Gui Yuan spent the past few days practicing "Ghost Hand."
He had caught and released that unlucky dragonfly, released it and caught it again, tormenting it dozens of times.
From drifting out crookedly at first, he could now swiftly complete the three steps of condensing, flying out, and grabbing.
His progress was visible to the naked eye.
That afternoon, while he was practicing in the backyard, a figure suddenly appeared at the courtyard entrance.
Lie Yangtian.
Someone else followed beside him-Yan.
Neither looked very happy, as though they had eaten something difficult to swallow.
Gui Yuan stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Need something?"
Lie Yangtian took a deep breath, stepped forward twice, and cupped his hands. "Yan was in the wrong before. I brought him here to apologize to you in person."
After saying that, he turned his head and glanced at Yan.
Yan pressed his lips together and lowered his head, his voice muffled. "...Sorry. I offended you before."
At some point, Yue Guan and Gui Mei had appeared on the other side of the courtyard. With their arms folded, they watched the scene expressionlessly.
Gui Yuan looked at Yan, then at Lie Yangtian.
He could guess the situation this master and disciple were in now.
Over the past month, Lie Yangtian had probably discovered that Qian Daoliu had no intention of standing up for him.
None of the other elders of the Elders' Hall had stepped forward to speak on his behalf either.
Only then had he belatedly realized-he had offended not merely a child, but three Titled Douluos: Bibi Dong, Yue Guan, and Gui Mei.
Among them, Yue Guan was a Super Douluo who had just broken through to Level 96 and already qualified to enter the Worship Hall.
However, perhaps because he had been rewarded with a Soul Bone, or perhaps because he felt his current life was quite good, Yue Guan had not considered entering the Worship Hall.
To him now, it was nothing more than an empty title. He could enter or not.
After calming down, they had decided that backing down was their only choice.
Gui Yuan fell silent for a moment before saying flatly, "Just stay out of my sight from now on."
He paused, then calmly added, "You...aren't worthy yet."
Yan's face flushed scarlet in an instant.
The corner of Lie Yangtian's mouth twitched as well, and his fists clenched, then loosened.
He held himself back.
"Yes."
Lie Yangtian forced the word through gritted teeth, then pulled Yan around and quickly left.
Watching their backs disappear through the courtyard entrance, Yue Guan chuckled.
"This kid really holds a grudge."
Gui Yuan said, "If apologies worked, what would we need strength for?"
What he hated most was an apology after the fact.
A few days later, Bibi Dong returned to Spirit Hall with Hu Liena and Xie Yue.
As soon as the three entered the Pope's Palace, Hu Liena impatiently ran out, heading straight for Gui Yuan's courtyard.
"Junior Brother! Junior Brother!"
Her voice arrived before she did.
Gui Yuan was meditating in the courtyard and opened his eyes at her shouts.
Hu Liena ran up to him in a flash, undisguised pride on her face.
"The fourth Soul Skill I got this time is pretty impressive!"
She planted her hands on her hips and tilted her chin up slightly. "Mental attacks might not work on you, but this fourth Soul Skill of mine also has a burning effect."
"I bet you won't have any way to block it this time, will you?"
Gui Yuan was somewhat surprised to hear that.
He had only casually offered Hu Liena a suggestion before-she could try moving toward mental attacks rather than stubbornly hammering away at mental control.
He had not expected her luck to be so good that she actually obtained such a Soul Skill, complete with an additional effect.
Still, although the Mental Protection the Darkin Bow gave him could not grant immunity to the burning effect, wouldn't it be fine as long as Hu Liena didn't hit him?
Besides, after taking the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, his mental power had improved considerably, even though he had not absorbed that Spirit Condensation Wisdom Skull.
Hu Liena's mental burning was not her primary means of attack, merely a debuff. With his mental power, he could still resist it.
But Gui Yuan simply could not stand that smug look on Hu Liena's face. He suddenly raised a hand, lightly flicked her forehead, then turned and ran.
"Sister Nana, even so, you might not be able to beat me now."
Hu Liena froze for an instant, then covered her reddening forehead, tears welling at the corners of her eyes.
"You bastard-stop right there!"
She immediately chased after him, Foxfire flickering in her palm.
"Let me flick you too!"
Watching this, Xie Yue shook his head helplessly.
This little junior brother really had his younger sister firmly in the palm of his hand.
The next day.
Inside the Pope's Palace.
Gui Yuan told Bibi Dong about Soul Cores.
Yue Guan and Gui Mei stood to one side, filling in some details.
"Your Holiness, Old Ghost and I have already tried it," Yue Guan said earnestly. "Although we haven't managed to condense solid Soul Cores yet, Soul Power vortices have already formed inside our bodies."
"Both our Soul Power circulation and recovery speeds have increased by at least twenty to thirty percent."
The more Bibi Dong heard, the more surprised she became. She looked at Gui Yuan with a measure of scrutiny in her eyes, as well as delighted surprise.
"You came up with this thing while your master was away?"
Gui Yuan scratched his head. "I was just tinkering around."
"What exactly is inside that head of yours?"
Bibi Dong's tone was delighted, and even the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.
Although she was the exalted Pope and had seen and learned much, she had truly never heard of the concept of a Soul Core.
If it could truly be realized, its significance to the Soul Master World would probably be no less than that of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.
"Then let your master try as well."
Bibi Dong did not hesitate for long.
She first experimented outside her body, compressing her Soul Power as much as possible and refining it into a crystalline form.
Yue Guan and Gui Mei had already repeated this process countless times.
Bibi Dong picked it up extremely quickly. In just two hours, she condensed a fingernail-sized Soul Power crystal in her palm.
Although it dissipated after lasting only a few breaths, that was enough to prove they were heading in the right direction.
Afterward, she began trying to condense it inside her body.
Yue Guan and Gui Mei stood guard on either side, not daring to relax in the slightest.
Bibi Dong sat cross-legged on the floor, her eyes tightly shut and Soul Power surging around her.
She directly activated the Death Spider Emperor's ninth Soul Skill, Immortal Body. Purple-black light enveloped her entire body. This way, even if an accident occurred during the condensation process, she could preserve her life.
A day and a night slowly passed in silence.
Early the next morning, Bibi Dong slowly opened her eyes.
She lowered her head to look at her lower abdomen, sensing the slowly rotating Soul Power vortex in her lower dantian.
Although she still had a long way to go before reaching the Soul Core Gui Yuan had described, she had taken the first step.
Bibi Dong stood and looked at Gui Yuan with a somewhat complicated expression.
When she had first taken him as her disciple, it had partly been because she valued his talent with Twin Martial Souls, and partly because of that unknown deity's inheritance.
She had never expected that, after only a year and a half, before she had taught him much of anything, she would instead gain from him an idea capable of changing the landscape of the Soul Master World.
"Well done." Bibi Dong patted Gui Yuan's shoulder without saying anything more.
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