A Higher-Dimensional Relic?

Jiang Dongjun trusted his cheat more.

He asked once again.

"Dad, are you sure there are only rare metals inside?"

"Uh... no. Forget it, take a look yourself."

Jiang Ming walked up to the metal cabinet and pressed his hand against its door. First, he fed soul power into the Soul Guidance Door Lock to pass the first authentication, then entered a string of numbers to complete the second.

After a series of mechanical clicks, the cabinet door slowly swung open.

A crisp metallic scent wafted toward them.

Guided by the Light of Time and Space, Jiang Dongjun followed the pull of that aura. Without the slightest hesitation, his gaze locked straight onto his target.

The third compartment in the second row from the top.

It was a Golden Disc as thick as an adult's wrist. Once he blocked out the Light of Time and Space, he could no longer sense anything unusual about it.

"What exactly does that extraordinary aura mean, so utterly distinct, like a crane standing among chickens?"

Jiang Dongjun stared at the Golden Disc, his brow slightly furrowed in puzzlement.

Following his son's gaze, Jiang Ming found his target. He took the Golden Disc out of its compartment and looked it over, but still could not discern anything.

"This one? Dongjun, can you tell what's special about it?"

Jiang Ming continued, "Neither of the Soul Tool Department's two Titled Douluo deans could manage that. They could only establish that it was a material of an extremely high order, with affinities for both fire and light. But it's also incredibly hard, making it difficult to carve Soul Guidance Arrays onto it. Since they couldn't use it, it ended up in my hands."

Jiang Dongjun avoided answering and simply asked, "Dad, can you confirm who owns it? Did they lend it to you, or..."

He trailed off.

Jiang Ming waved a hand. "Don't worry, it belongs entirely to me now. Since your mother and I both specialize in researching fire-attribute soul tools, the Soul Tool Department has high hopes for us. They gave it to our workshop in the hope that it would inspire us."

Diwu Ying added from beside him, "Son, your father and I might not have much talent for cultivation-we're nearly forty and still stuck at Soul King-but both deans think highly of our potential as soul engineers. The department has been discussing it recently. Once we pass forty and our cultivation slows even further, they'll use drugs to force our cultivation up to Seven-Ring Soul Sage, aiming to add two Level 7 Soul Engineers to the Soul Tool Department."

Popping pills?

Jiang Dongjun did not mind. At worst, he could use immortal herbs and soul liquid to rebuild his parents' foundations in the future.

"Good. As long as it's ours, I can study it without worrying."

Jiang Dongjun reached out to take the Golden Disc.

But Jiang Ming suddenly raised the Golden Disc out of Jiang Dongjun's reach, his expression solemn.

"Listen, Dongjun. You can study it, but you must be careful-

"First, even the academy's Titled Douluos can't damage it, so we already know it's of an exceptionally high order. Although none of the experiments conducted on it in the past stirred so much as a ripple, you still need to beware of backlash. Especially where your yin spirit is concerned. We've verified that lightning, light, and fire severely counter your yin spirit, and this disc happens to have affinities for the latter two elements.

"Second, there's still its affinity for both light and fire. If you really manage to unravel its hidden secrets, you might cause quite a commotion. This is Shrek City. There are enough Titled Douluo and Soul Douluo experts here to put them to work running errands. If you cause even the slightest anomaly, you'll definitely be tracked down. At that point, whether you can keep its secrets in your hands will be a question mark."

"Don't worry, Dad. I know my limits."

Jiang Dongjun repeatedly assured him and finally received the Golden Disc from his father.

Rather than the cold touch of metal, it felt distinctly warm in his hands, as comfortable as winter sunshine.

Examined closely, its material seemed like metal yet was not, like wood yet was not.

The disc appeared to be a section of some cylindrical object, with clearly visible, mysterious patterns on its upper and lower broken surfaces.

Jiang Dongjun pondered inwardly, a suspicion forming.

What heaven-defying treasure could this damned floor-tile-tier Douluo Plane possibly have? If even Titled Douluos can't do anything to it, then at most, it's a natural treasure on the same level as gold of life or ice extreme divine crystal. It would still fall within the mortal realm.

Or perhaps it's a fragment of a divine artifact?

Beyond that, I honestly can't think of any other possibility.

If it's the latter... light! Fire! Those two affinities most likely point toward an authority of the sun. The previous sun authority was also held by the Angel God, but this thing doesn't look like a fragment of the Angel Holy Sword. Could it come from the even more distant era of the Dragon God?

After all, any battle that could smash a divine artifact into fragments had to be extraordinarily intense.

"Dad, Mom, I'm going back to my room. Just leave dinner outside my door."

Jiang Dongjun could hardly wait to see what happened when the Light of Time and Space met the Golden Disc.

But Jiang Ming waved a hand and stopped him.

"Wait. Your mother and I will head out. Stay here in the Soul Tool Workshop. I'll activate the defensive arrays so you can study it freely."

Before leaving the Soul Tool Workshop, Diwu Ying reminded him.

"Son, think carefully about what sort of soul skill you want. We're taking you to hunt for a soul ring tomorrow."

Jiang Dongjun nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Soul rings were always difficult to get just right.

The first three, or even the fourth, could only serve as stepping stones. He would have to make do for now and see whether there was a way to adjust them in the future.

Trust the soul liquid.

Trust the Light of Time and Space.

Speaking of which, after the Light of Time and Space became complete, the feedback it gave Jiang Dongjun became clearer.

Innate full soul power plus twin martial souls constituted exceptionally outstanding talent on the Douluo Plane. After their emergence, fortune naturally favored him, and roughly a month of accumulation would produce soul liquid.

Unlike his status as a "Shrek lord" and the son of two Soul Kings, which required an entire year before he could reap the harvest.

Jiang Dongjun was now the only person left in the spacious Soul Tool Workshop.

He found a chair and sat down, beginning with a study of his two martial souls.

Turning his hand over, he summoned a head-sized dark red fireball above his palm. Its roaring, churning flames radiated heat into the surroundings, distorting the air.

Jiang Dongjun put his hand inside the fireball to sense its internal state.

It was not a solid sphere, but a mass of... hmm, gas?

Loose and flowing.

There was a distinct sense of resistance, as though he had plunged his hand into a stream.

Could this be what they called plasma in my previous life?

Jiang Dongjun scratched his head, unsure.

He could only make that guess based on its peculiar, nearly gaseous properties.

After staring at the dark red fireball for a while, Jiang Dongjun suddenly drew out the Light of Time and Space from deep within his mind.

It was no longer dim, but full and brimming. Its hazy, clear radiance fell upon the Fireball Martial Soul with immense penetrating power, as though it had "stripped it bare."

In just a few breaths, a stream of information fed back into Jiang Dongjun's mind.

"You really do have an appraisal function?"

Jiang Dongjun clicked his tongue in delighted surprise and sorted through the information he had received.

He could roughly arrange it into a simple table to display several key statistics of the Fireball Martial Soul more clearly.

Fireball Martial Soul

Classification: elemental type

Physical aspect:

-Density: 17.34 kg/m³

Elemental aspect:

-Fire element control: advanced

Jiang Dongjun could barely stand to look.

Taken altogether, two words summed it up-utterly lousy!

It was a very, very standard advanced martial soul.

Compared with top-tier martial souls such as the Light Saint Dragon, Dark Saint Dragon, Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, phoenix, and Clear Sky Hammer, it fell an entire major grade short.

Still, it had plenty of room for improvement.

And the directions for improvement were very clear.

The Light of Time and Space had already provided them.

First, the physical aspect.

Increase the fireball's density, aiming for brute force that could send even a brick flying.

The Sea God Trident weighed only fifty-four tons, while Tang San's Clear Sky Hammer had a base weight of five tons at level ninety.

If I raise the fireball's density to ten tons per cubic meter someday, would you dare say mine isn't a top-tier martial soul?

Second, the elemental aspect.

Increase its degree of elemental control.

Above advanced was top-tier, and above top-tier was ultimate.

Ultimate fire qualified one to reach for the divine seat of the First-Level God, the Fire God!

Of course, Little Three had always treated the continent as his own. No matter how talented the younger generation was, unless he held their leash, he would never allow other gods to pass down their divine seats.

Withdrawing the dark red fireball, Jiang Dongjun released his Yin Spirit Martial Soul and shone the Light of Time and Space over it as well.

This time, the information returned was rather brief.

Yin Spirit Martial Soul

Classification: spiritual type/body type/mystical type/unknown type

Yes, that was all.

There was nothing more.

It was not that the Yin Spirit Martial Soul was so incredible that the Light of Time and Space could not appraise it. Rather, it was not a proper martial soul at all.

If he had to find comparable examples for it.

A similar method of birth-the Holy Necromancer!

A similar form of existence-Luo Sanpao!

The former was Huo Yuhao's third martial soul, mingled with Electrolux's divine consciousness and bestowed by Electrolux before he vanished completely.

The latter was a rare external beast martial soul.

Yin Spirit Martial Soul = Light of Time and Space + innate gift: Yin Spirit Excursion + Awakening Stone rules (Douluo Plane rules).

It counted as an unconventional artificial martial soul.

As Jiang Dongjun saw it, the Yin Spirit Martial Soul's specific function was equivalent to the Tinplate Puppet his father had made for him: it housed his thoughts.

It was equivalent to a puppet, or a piece of Soul Armament.

When his thoughts entered the martial soul to roam outside his body in the future, it would be like putting on a suit of armor, rather than having his soul "run around naked."

If attacked, the martial soul would absorb the impact first.

Only after part of the attack's power had been weakened would the remainder pour onto his thoughts, greatly improving his soul's safety.

In addition, the Yin Spirit Martial Soul would certainly amplify the power of his spiritual attacks.

Those were the basics.

As for whatever other abilities it might possess, that would depend entirely on further development.

Right, speaking of thoughts...

Jiang Dongjun leaned back, resting his weight against the chair, and closed his eyes.

Yin spirit, activate!

His soul left his body.

The illusory figure of a boy emerged from the top of his head, then broke apart into individual thoughts, each crystalline and full, glittering like a diamond.

One, two, three... thirty-four!

Before awakening his martial souls, he had only been able to form twenty-two thoughts.

The number of thoughts represented his spiritual strength.

Just after awakening his martial souls, with the birth of the Yin Spirit Martial Soul, Jiang Dongjun had clearly felt his total spiritual power rise like a boat lifted by the tide.

But I never expected it to rise this much-nearly fifty-five percent!

The current era's understanding of spiritual power was still very vague, so Jiang Dongjun could only grope his way forward in the dark.

He could not say exactly which spiritual realm his thirty-four thoughts corresponded to, either.

Going by instinct... he felt he might have crossed the threshold of the Spirit Sea Realm?

He had faintly sensed himself breaking through a layer of restraint. Surely it could not have been an advancement from the Spirit Origin Realm to the Spirit Connection Realm?

If it were, all his cultivation of the yin spirit before awakening his martial souls would have been a joke.