Watching the entire White Tiger Duke's Mansion meet its complete destruction, Huo Yutong sighed softly before her expression returned to calm.
"What do we do next? Or rather, what do I do next? From the look of you, you don't seem to be planning to leave with me."
"But where are you planning to send me? You're not planning to take me back to Shrek Academy again, are you?" Huo Yutong asked, a rare trace of hesitation in her expression.
Li Mu merely rolled his eyes at her words.
"We'll go back to Heaven Dou City first. Tomorrow, I'll return to Shrek Academy on my own."
"I still have some things to do. At least let me finish the freshman tournament and meet all these people once before I leave."
Li Mu stretched as he spoke.
Huo Yutong was somewhat bewildered by Li Mu's desire to meet everyone once.
She did not quite understand why Li Mu would have such an idea.
After all, to her, those people were all strangers. It made no difference whether she met them.
She had no idea how strong Li Mu's curiosity was. After all, these so-called Shrek Seven Devils, or the students of Shrek Academy-
If Li Mu did not meet them this time, the next time he saw them might be at their execution ground, or when he killed them on the battlefield.
At that thought, Li Mu smiled.
Then he took Huo Yutong with him, and the two rode a carriage swiftly back to Heaven Dou City.
They returned very quickly. Even if anyone had managed to leave to report the news, they could not possibly have brought any horses out.
So even if they wanted to report the news, they would have to walk. And anyone trying to send word through other means could not have reached them in just these few short minutes either.
Thus, the two left the area with ease.
Back in Heaven Dou City, Li Mu rented a house directly, then took Huo Yutong to the largest trading firm nearby to buy some things.
Many of the things they needed to buy there were pieces of equipment for making Soul Tools.
The Soul Tool manufacturing equipment here was practically worlds apart from the manufacturing equipment specified by the template in Li Mu's mind.
The technologies of the two were from entirely different eras. However, Li Mu had no advanced means of studying this, nor had he studied it much.
So he simply made a few modifications and barely managed to put together a workbench.
Watching Li Mu, Huo Yutong was somewhat bewildered.
But before she could ask, Li Mu began some simple engraving.
Then he took out a relatively complete set of Soul Tool blueprints.
"This is a peculiar Class 2 Soul Tool. You can think of it as encrypted communication."
"Once it's confirmed, as long as we're within a certain range, we can sense each other and then communicate."
"It's different from those soul phones that can only establish single-line contact. It allows wireless communication."
As Li Mu spoke, his gaze swept over the blueprints, his eyes flickering.
One good thing about the Lan Xuanyu Template was that every step it provided was very detailed.
But he actually could not make some of the truly powerful or highly difficult Soul Tools in those blueprints.
That was because many of the resources needed to manufacture the Soul Tools corresponding to those blueprints came from other planets.
For example, materials produced on planets such as Dragon King Planet and Heaven Dou Planet, and in places such as the Pegasus Star Domain.
Given his current circumstances, he could not reach those places at all, so he could only bring out some locally viable technology.
But even so, this encrypted, long-distance connection Soul Tool could allow the two of them-
To establish contact within a range of roughly seventy kilometers, allowing them to communicate.
Moreover, this communication could be encrypted, with no way to intercept it.
And the Soul Tool Technology within it was far beyond what those soul phones could compare to.
Soul phones and such means of communication did indeed exist in this world.
But these things seemed exceedingly cheap. Their only difference from those single-line communicators was that they could establish multiple lines of contact.
Once the distance grew too great, however, they could not connect at all, nor allow any effective communication.
Those soul phones could not compare to this special Soul Tool at all.
Most importantly, this soul communicator was only a Class 2 Soul Tool, so it was not difficult to manufacture.
Taking the blueprints, Huo Yutong studied the soul formations carefully. Her expression grew a little more solemn before she nodded earnestly.
"Don't worry. I'll treasure these things."
"But if you leave now, where do I go? From what you're saying, you want me to head to the Sun Moon Empire."
"Do you want me to enroll in an academy in the Sun Moon Empire?"
There was a trace of hesitation in Huo Yutong's voice as she spoke.
But Li Mu did not answer her. Instead, he looked at her head-or rather, at the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm within it.
Sensing Li Mu's power, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's phantom manifested, that tiny figure appearing once again.
At this moment, however, Tian Meng's expression was full of wariness.
Meeting her gaze, Li Mu wasted no words.
Li Mu raised his hand and opened the Silver Dragon Space, from which numerous treasures flew out in a rush.
Most of these were sealed medicinal herbs, along with some finished pills.
Pills were fairly common in this world, and were not particularly difficult to obtain.
There were also apothecaries, so pills in this world were not as rare as they would be ten thousand years later.
Even so, pills were still precious, including Holy Spirit Pills and Mystic Water Pills.
Along with some unnamed pills refined by specialized pill masters, Li Mu took out nearly forty or fifty pills in one go.
"Your Soul Power should be at rank seventeen or eighteen now, right? With these things, you can break through to rank twenty within half a month."
"Especially this Spirit Ascension Pill. It can directly help you advance one rank."
"I shouldn't need to teach you what comes next, should I?" Li Mu said, looking calmly at the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, who had still been wearing a wary expression, suddenly stiffened at Li Mu's words. Her eyes met Li Mu's directly.
Li Mu said nothing, but the mere matter of breaking through to rank twenty gave the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm a bad feeling.
She could clearly sense that the young man before her might already have perceived her plan, or rather, her thoughts.
To the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, this was somewhat inconceivable, but as their gazes met-
That feeling became almost as clear as it could possibly be.
Then the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm fell silent as well, her eyes meeting Li Mu's.
Afterward, she left outright, leaving only a thoroughly bewildered Huo Yutong behind.
"All right. With these things, I should be able to break through to a two-ring Soul Grandmaster within two or three weeks."
"And then?" Huo Yutong asked somewhat hesitantly. She did not understand just what sort of connection Li Mu had established with her Sister Tian Meng.
But Li Mu merely smiled at this and did not answer Huo Yutong.
After briefly giving her a couple of instructions, he calmly turned and left.
As for this luxurious inn, he had already paid for three months.
His gains this time had been substantial, but there was no need to bring them up now. He could wait until he returned to Shrek Academy.
Looking at the gathering evening darkness, Li Mu yawned and prepared to return to Shrek Academy as quickly as possible.