Investigation

Over the next few days, Huo Yuhao tried condensing a Soul Ring himself. His Soul Power had already reached rank 20, and without a Soul Ring, he could not raise it any further.

That was right. After learning the principles behind Soul Rings, he had decided to try condensing one for himself. He had watched Gu Qiu'er take human form and had some ideas about it.

But after failing a dozen or so times, he gave up.

There seems to be something crucial missing? Huo Yuhao thought.

So he stopped dwelling on it and chose to follow Gu Yuena's suggestion: have a Soul Beast sacrifice itself. Spiritual-type Soul Beasts were rare, but there were still some dying ones in the Star Dou Great Forest.

With a flash of silver light, Huo Yuhao and Gu Yuena arrived at the Lake of Life.

They saw Gu Qiu'er pointing at several Soul Beasts and roaring in exasperation.

"You idiots! How can you be this stupid! How many times have I explained it, and you still don't understand!"

The moment she saw Huo Yuhao and Gu Yuena, Gu Qiu'er threw herself at them.

"Yuhao, Sister, have you come to pick me up? I can't take it anymore. I want to go back!"

Gu Yuena rubbed her head and said gently, "Yes, we've come to pick you up."

Then she instructed Di Tian, "Find a dying ten-thousand-year spiritual-type Soul Beast."

"Yes, my lord." Di Tian bowed respectfully, then went to find a suitable Soul Beast.

Then Gu Yuena said to Huo Yuhao, "Well? These are the Star Dou Great Forest's reserves."

"There are actually nearly a hundred Soul Beasts at the hundred-thousand-year level."

Huo Yuhao looked at the densely packed Soul Beasts around them, though the looks they gave him were far from friendly. Perhaps it was because he was human. But he believed they would soon change their minds.

Gu Yuena said proudly, "I had them study the knowledge you taught us, with Di Tian supervising. If they keep failing to learn it, Xiong Jun will whip them into shape.

"Though they can't match humans' learning speed, they aren't all that slow."

Huo Yuhao nodded. So that was the main reason.

Still, Huo Yuhao understood completely, so he asked about something else. "How is the metallurgical facility I asked you to build coming along?"

"It's already built."

"I've finished the core components too. Let's install them today."

The two came to the factory in the distance. It was a tower-shaped structure several dozen meters tall, built with very crude workmanship, but after inspecting it, Huo Yuhao found nothing that failed to meet his requirements.

Huo Yuhao had specifically instructed them to find a secluded place where it would not affect other Soul Beasts.

So Di Tian and the others had set their sights on some gathering grounds of demonic spider-type Soul Beasts. First, they liked living in dark places, which were sufficiently secluded; second, these spiders were a nuisance, evil creatures that everyone among the Soul Beasts wanted beaten.

It was worth mentioning that these spiders had actually dropped several Soul Bones, including an External Soul Bone, the Eight Spider Lances.

The Eight Spider Lances were currently in Gu Yuena's hands.

"Here."

"No thanks." Huo Yuhao glanced at them. He did not want to fuse other bones into his body. But this gave him an idea.

Huo Yuhao took out several components and installed them inside the tower in sequence.

This was the product of combining Imperial Technology with Soul Tools! Huo Yuhao had written multiple programs into it, allowing it to automatically identify different metals in ore, smelt them, and sort them into separate containers.

For now, Soul Power alone was sufficient as an energy source. They could switch to other energy sources in the future; for the moment, those Soul Beasts would have to put in some work.

With this, they had their raw materials. Huo Yuhao looked at the surrounding ore the Soul Beasts had mined over the past few months and could not help nodding.

Gu Yuena was excited too. During this time, she had learned that humans were still forging iron one hammer blow at a time. In other words, their side was far ahead in efficiency!

After a short wait, Di Tian returned with a Soul Beast. It was a brilliantly colored deer.

"A Nine-Colored Deer?"

"Yes, my lord. This species is rare, and they now all live under Bi Ji's protection."

"What happened to this one? Judging by its aura, it has only lived for ten thousand years. How has it weakened to this extent?"

"It was born with a defect. A lifespan of ten thousand years is its limit."

"Are you willing to sacrifice yourself?" Gu Yuena asked the Nine-Colored Deer.

"Lord Di Tian said this human is helping us, so I am willing." The Nine-Colored Deer could not speak, but it could transmit mental messages.

While the Nine-Colored Deer was sacrificing itself, Di Tian took out a Storage Soul Tool.

"My lord, this is what you asked me to investigate."

"How did you handle the aftermath?"

"I burned the archive down. But someone else seems to be investigating this matter."

"Hmm?"

Two nights earlier.

Di Tian had slipped into the archives of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion in the latter half of the night. As soon as he entered, he saw someone searching for something. After finding it, that person recorded it with a Soul Tool, then left.

Di Tian took out the documents that person had searched through and discovered that they were precisely what his lord had asked him to investigate! So he put them into his storage tool.

Remembering his lord's instructions, he channeled his Soul Power and burned the entire building to ashes. By the time anyone discovered the fire, Di Tian was already gone.

That figure in black had been Zhang Lexuan, who had set out after Mu En was cured.

When she saw Huo Yuhao's records, her eyes immediately reddened. So he had a past like this!

The documents said little about Huo Yuhao, but how could Zhang Lexuan fail to recognize the information hidden in those few sparse words?

A mother and son, constantly oppressed, had lived in a dilapidated woodshed, without enough food to fill their bellies or clothing to cover their bodies. Even the servants had often bullied them!

She thought of herself. Back then, she had been just as desperate, but fortunately, Mu En had saved her and even helped her avenge her grievances.

But what about him? He had endured eleven years of days without a glimpse of daylight!

She thought of that calm, composed boy who shared his knowledge selflessly and occasionally revealed a warm smile.

Then she thought of the pitiful child huddling with his mother for warmth in winter, and the two figures gradually overlapped.

He had helped so many people, but who had ever helped him! Just what kind of soul lived within that emaciated body!

On her way back, she saw a mound of earth that caught her attention. When she approached for a closer look, it turned out to be a solitary grave.

There were even bloodstains on the headstone! Though very faint, she could still make them out.

She dared not imagine how Huo Yuhao had dragged his mother's corpse here and buried her.

She still remembered that three months ago, Huo Yuhao had looked far thinner than he did now!

She bowed deeply to the grave.

"You have a great son!"

Near dawn, Zhang Lexuan hurried back to Sea God Island.

"Senior Sister!" A tall, blond man greeted her in delighted surprise.

"Get lost!"

At the sight of him, the feelings Zhang Lexuan had calmed along the way flared into anger again. The newcomer was none other than Dai Yueheng.

Seeing the senior sister he had not met for months treat him so terribly, Dai Yueheng, who had originally been in a good mood, also grew somewhat angry.

"What bastard upset Senior Sister!"