His eyes were golden, tiny flecks of light swirling deep within his pupils like crushed stars.
Long, pale-gold hair spilled over his shoulders, its ends drifting slightly as though stirred by an unseen wind.
He wore a grayish-white robe, its hem embroidered with intricate dark-gold patterns identical to those on the bead, now slowly flowing.
He simply stood there, giving off no fluctuations of soul power, yet Zhang Lan's entire Sea of Consciousness fell silent.
The surging tides of soul power stilled for an instant, and even Tian Meng reined in his unreliable nature.
Electrolux looked down at his hand, turned his palm over, then raised his head, his gaze settling on Zhang Lan.
"It's been a year."
A trace of wistfulness colored his voice.
"I thought I would never see the light of day again."
"To think you brought me to this world with soul power, boy. I've certainly gained an unexpected boon."
His gaze swept across Zhang Lan's Sea of Consciousness, then turned to the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm beside him, the corners of his mouth curving slightly.
"One big bug, one eight-year-old child, and two little girls resembling magical beasts."
"What an unusual lineup."
Clearly, the moment Electrolux appeared, he had taken in everything around him.
"Greetings, Elder Yi."
Zhang Lan cupped his hands, neither servile nor overbearing.
Electrolux's gaze lingered on him for two breaths. The scattered lights in his golden pupils swirled, as though he were examining something unexpected.
"Little fellow, you seem to know quite a lot about me."
He stood with his hands behind his back, the dark-gold patterns on his grayish-white robe flowing slowly. Not a trace of soul power emanated from him, yet the entire Sea of Consciousness was as still as if it had frozen over.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm huddled off to one side, not even daring to let his platinum soul ring rotate too quickly.
"Since you awakened my remnant soul, I owe you a favor."
Electrolux spoke at an unhurried pace, but a touch of seriousness entered his golden eyes.
"Would you be willing to inherit my mantle as the Holy Necromancer?"
Zhang Lan did not hesitate.
"I'm sorry, Elder Yi."
He raised his head and met those golden eyes.
"I have my own path."
Electrolux did not answer immediately.
He studied Zhang Lan for several breaths, his gaze sweeping over that young face, moving to the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm beside him, then returning to Zhang Lan.
"Interesting."
His tone betrayed neither pleasure nor anger.
"A seven-year-old child, refusing a god's legacy."
"In my world, I doubt anyone would believe such a story."
"It's not a refusal."
Zhang Lan spoke.
"I simply can't walk someone else's path."
"The path of a necromancer doesn't suit me."
"Then what help do you still want from me?"
"There is something I do need your help with, Elder Yi."
Zhang Lan gathered his words and explained everything about soul spirits from beginning to end.
The fusion of soul beasts and human soul masters, the preservation of a soul beast's consciousness, and the binding of soul rings to souls.
How to allow a soul beast to continue existing in another form, and how to let a soul master obtain a soul ring without harming the soul beast's life.
These were all ideas that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had repeatedly worked through with him in the Sea of Consciousness. They came from the Soul Spirit System of the Douluo Continent's future, but no one in this era had truly put them into practice.
After listening, Electrolux did not speak immediately.
His fingers tapped lightly at his side, and the dark-gold patterns on his grayish-white robe flickered in response.
"Soul spirits."
He rolled the words around in his mouth.
"An existence similar to this bug?"
Zhang Lan nodded.
"More or less."
"Brother Sky Dream is my soul spirit now, but he voluntarily merged into my Sea of Consciousness."
"What I want is to systematize that process, allowing soul beasts to willingly form contracts with soul masters so both sides can benefit."
"That's rather interesting."
Electrolux turned his gaze toward the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and looked him up and down.
His scrutiny made Tian Meng uncomfortable all over. His platinum soul ring contracted slightly, and he instinctively retreated half a step.
"The fact that this bug can survive in your Sea of Consciousness shows that your mental attribute already provides a foundation for housing a soul beast's soul."
He withdrew his gaze and looked at Zhang Lan.
"So, my young friend, you want me to bring this technique to fruition?"
"Sorry for the trouble, Elder Yi."
Zhang Lan cupped his hands again, bowing a little deeper this time.
Electrolux waved a hand.
"It's no trouble."
"Since you don't wish to accept my legacy, naturally, I must do something for you."
"A necromancer's methods already deal with souls, life, and death. This matter of soul spirits has some common ground with my path."
He paused, then continued.
"The reversibility and stability of this contract, as well as the compatibility of the two souls, will all need to be worked through repeatedly."
"Give me time, and enough cases to study."
"This bug alone is too small a sample."
Zhang Lan nodded.
"Rest assured, Elder Yi."
"There won't be any shortage of samples in the future."
Electrolux said no more. His grayish-white robe swayed slightly, and his figure began to fade.
The luminous mist condensed back into a gray bead and drifted to a corner of the Sea of Consciousness.
Electrolux's voice emerged from the bead, lower than before and tinged with weariness.
"I'll slowly work out the framework for the soul spirit contract."
"Those two little girls outside are about to emerge from seclusion. Go take a look."
Zhang Lan opened his eyes.
The wind and snow before the ice cliff had grown stronger. The Ice Bear King had awakened at some point and was staring toward the two ice barriers with his ears pricked.
The Ice Empress's ice barrier on the left was covered in cracks. Emerald light poured from every fissure, turning the entire ice wall into an enormous slab of jade.
The Snow Empress's ice chamber on the right was much quieter, though a ring of snow around it had melted at some point, revealing the dark-brown frozen earth beneath.
The Ice Bear King glanced back at Zhang Lan and spoke in a low, muffled voice.
"She's coming out."
The instant the Ice Bear King finished speaking, the ice barrier on the left exploded.
Emerald light erupted from behind the barrier, blasting the entire ice wall into a skyful of fragments. Before they could fall, an invisible shock wave sent them flying in every direction.
The Ice Empress burst out of the ice cavern, her emerald dress snapping and billowing, every strand of her long, dark-green hair lifted by the roiling soul power.
Her expression was grim, her brows tightly knitted. Her aura was wildly unstable, and waves of emerald light surged from her body, impossible to suppress.
"Bing'er!"
The Snow Empress's voice rang out from the ice chamber on the other side, cool and urgent.
"I know!"
Without looking back, the Ice Empress pushed off the ice with her toes and shot into the distance as a streak of emerald light.
She moved incredibly fast, heading south, farther and farther from the Snow Empress's ice chamber.
Through Zhang Lan's gravitational perception, the soul power within her was swelling and churning at an astonishing rate, like a pot of boiling water pushed to its limit, ready to blow the lid off at any moment.
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