Light-Breaking Demon

Mu En's idea was actually quite familiar.

Because this was exactly how Mu En had lashed Huo Yuhao to Shrek's warship in the original story.

He was the one who took Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong'er as disciples, the one who taught them every combat technique he knew, the one who used the Light-Breaking Soul Bone to tie Wang Dong'er down, and the one who brought out the Dragon Core to help Huo Yuhao condense his Yin-Yang Complementary Soul Core.

Shrek Academy had barely provided Huo Yuhao with any help at all.

They called him the youngest member of the Sea God Pavilion, showered in glory and riding high, but in reality, Huo Yuhao had spent the entire time working like an ox or a horse for Shrek Academy.

Even graduating from the Inner Court required him to hand over two Level 9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells to Shrek Academy, and he had to make them himself.

Level 9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells...

That was roughly equivalent to enrolling in a military academy, only for the academy to set a graduation assessment requiring you to build two nuclear bombs through nuclear fission and hand them over to the school.

You even had to supply the nuclear fuel yourself.

No, that wasn't right.

It wasn't just the nuclear fuel. Shrek Academy didn't even have the manufacturing method for Level 9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells. It was essentially the same as teaching Huo Yuhao how to make hand grenades, then turning around and demanding that he cobble together two nuclear bombs from scratch and hand them over to Shrek.

If you couldn't deliver, you wouldn't get your diploma, and they wouldn't let you date a teacher at the military academy either.

6

Something that even Xian Lin'er and Qian Duoduo, the two deans of the Soul Tool Department, couldn't produce had been assigned to Huo Yuhao, an Inner Court disciple who hadn't even graduated, as his graduation assessment.

They dressed it up with a fine-sounding excuse: monsters should be judged by a monster's standards.

It could be said that, aside from Huo Yuhao's own somewhat peculiar disposition, Mu En's role in allowing Shrek Academy to work him like a beast of burden was plain to see.

Without Mu En, would Huo Yuhao have been so utterly devoted to Shrek Academy?

Clearly, at first, Mu En might only have been acknowledging Ye Feng's contributions as a Sea God Pavilion Elder, along with his favorable impression of Ye Qing, when he offered Ye Qing Golden Tree tea leaves.

Later, once Ye Qing awakened his Martial Soul, he truly intended to nurture him into Shrek Academy's next beast of... no, its next guardian deity.

It was a lovely idea.

But Ye Qing was an outsider. It would be difficult to brainwash him into a deranged Shrek fanatic. Perhaps, out of respect for Ye Feng and Mu En, he would repay Shrek in equal measure for the benefits he had received.

But getting him to volunteer like Huo Yuhao, finding a dog leash and fastening it around his own neck, was virtually impossible.

Ye Qing barely knew anyone at Shrek. Every day, he did little besides cultivate and fish, so he was hardly likely to develop some inseparable emotional bond with Shrek.

Living well himself was enough. Why go looking for trouble and suffering when he didn't have to?

The current Ye Qing hadn't thought that far ahead. At least for now, he still had a fairly good impression of Shrek, but the future was another matter.

Inside the cultivation room.

The Light-Breaking Soul Bone gradually merged into Ye Qing's right arm. Perhaps because of his strong affinity for light elements, the soul bone didn't put much pressure on him, even though its age had reached a full seventy thousand years.

It felt like the exhilaration of running beneath a blazing sun on a warm winter day.

Warm, yet scorching.

His right arm in particular felt as though even its marrow was burning. Light soul power, dense to the utmost, continuously poured from the Right Arm Soul Bone into Ye Qing's body.

Gradually, the scorching sensation spread from his right arm throughout his body, and the comfortable warmth slowly became an intense heat that was almost unbearable.

Ye Qing understood that the soul bone's power was strengthening his physique. That scorching heat, meanwhile, was probably the Light-Breaking Soul Bone strengthening his attribute, because he could clearly feel his light attribute growing steadily.

The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's darkness attribute was already extraordinarily powerful. Even if it wasn't ultimate, it had the potential to break through to that level. The same held true for Ye Qing's Sacred Radiance Heavenly God Tiger.

Clearly, this Light-Breaking Soul Bone was indeed an excellent match for the Sacred Radiance Heavenly God Tiger. Especially while he was still weak, Light-Breaking Demon's force-fed enhancement was actually more effective than the Golden Tree's gradual, imperceptible changes.

Knowing full well that this might be a chance for him to undergo a transformation, Ye Qing stubbornly endured the scorching light that seemed about to set him ablaze.

But just as he felt that his light attribute was about to undergo an earth-shattering transformation, Light-Breaking Demon's power faded.

Fuck you! Feeling the scorching sensation steadily receding within him, Ye Qing couldn't help cursing inwardly.

I was so close!

When it came to ultimate power, never mind being a little short-even the slightest gap meant it wasn't ultimate.

And clearly, this Light-Breaking Soul Bone had not pushed him to that ultimate level!

The scorching heat gradually faded, replaced by a sense of fullness and satisfaction, like someone who had gone a full day and night without water in the desert suddenly finding an oasis, free to revel in the coolness and nourishment of its water.

But that satisfaction did not make Ye Qing happy.

Anyone who missed out on an ultimate attribute by the narrowest margin would be in a foul mood.

Forget it. Since I'm already close to ultimate, there'll still be chances to push it higher. Ye Qing could only sigh inwardly and end this cultivation session.

Since his soul power had already reached the level-twenty bottleneck, he couldn't yet tell how much soul power Light-Breaking Demon had given him. That would only become apparent after he absorbed his Second Soul Ring.

It felt rather like banking experience points in a game...

After absorbing the Light-Breaking Soul Bone, Ye Qing sought out Mu En again and asked him to help test the maximum age his Second Soul Ring could reach.

The test results were also as expected.

Ye Qing had originally been able to withstand a three-thousand-year soul ring. Absorbing the soul bone raised that limit by fifteen hundred years, and thanks to the Light-Breaking Soul Bone's characteristics, absorbing a Light Elemental Spirit's soul ring would raise it by another two thousand years or so.

To be on the safe side, Mu En felt that Ye Qing could absorb a Light Elemental Spirit's soul ring of around six thousand years as his Second Soul Ring.

Although this had been expected.

Ye Qing's limit still left Mu En and Ye Feng overjoyed.

A six-thousand-year Second Soul Ring was already one and a half times older than a normal Soul Ancestor's fourth Soul Ring Age Limit. A ten-thousand-year third ring was no longer just an idea, but a foreseeable future!

Yellow, purple, black-each rank a leap forward.

Ye Qing was destined to become the undisputed leader of Shrek Academy's generation, a true genius whom Shrek would struggle to surpass even over thousands of years!

"Good, good, good. Excellent!" Mu En smiled with gratification.