Passing through Shrek Academy's familiar archway, Gu Yue keenly sensed that the atmosphere on campus had changed.
The once-peaceful campus now held many unfamiliar faces, young and brimming with vitality, their eyes shining with a thirst for knowledge. They were the latest intake of students. Shrek Academy had resumed admissions, and the continent's finest institution had come alive again.
Gu Yue did not linger. Her destination was clear—the Tang Sect. She wanted to see whether there had been any new breakthroughs in Soul Tool research and, while she was there... perhaps find some novel toys for Tang Wulin.
Yet the moment she stepped onto Tang Sect grounds, a heavy smell of metal and gunpowder hit her.
At the end of a long corridor piled with precision components and soul guidance blueprints, Gu Yue spotted a figure.
It was a woman wearing a slightly oversized white lab coat stained with traces of machine oil and unidentified chemicals. Her short, practical haircut curled slightly at the ends, giving her a somewhat rebellious air. A heavy pair of goggles rested on her nose, and the eyes behind the lenses were sharp as blades, revealing an almost fanatical dedication to science. She was toying with a miniature core that emitted a dim blue glow, a confident—perhaps even arrogant—smile resting on her lips.
Her presence was like an unsheathed blade: sharp, cold, yet lethally captivating.
Gu Yue stopped and asked politely, "May I ask your name?"
The woman stopped what she was doing and slowly turned around. She looked Gu Yue up and down, her gaze lingering briefly on Gu Yue's breathtaking face before turning indifferent again.
"My name is Ling Zichen."
Her voice was cool, with a metallic edge. "I'm a Soul Tool expert specially invited here by the Tang Sect. And you?"
"Gu