Oh No! My Soul Beast!

Time flew like a white colt flashing past a crack in the wall, and in the blink of an eye, two and a half years had passed.

Ever since Heavy Silver had first been pushed to the brink of Spirit Forging in the forging workshop, the Sun Moon Empire's path of Soul Guidance Forging had quietly extended in the hands of a few boys and girls. One foot of spiritual light, three feet of spiritual light, ten percent Thousand Refinement... Every step reshaped the continent's understanding of metal.

And today was the first day of school at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.

A sea of people crowded before the academy gates. Some parents held their children's hands and gave them quiet last-minute instructions, while others stood on tiptoe to peer at the magnificent buildings inside. The atmosphere was lively, with a hint of nervousness.

At the edge of the crowd, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen stood against an old pine tree, glancing from time to time at the main road outside.

"What is it? What are you thinking about again?" Xiao Hongchen asked quietly, his tone carrying a trace of his usual teasing.

But Meng Hongchen seemed to have spotted something. Her eyes lit up, and she hurriedly waved toward the other end of the road. "A-Liang! Over here, over here!" she called in a clear voice.

Bao Liang strode over, his brand-new uniform crisp and neat. A pale gold sun-and-moon pattern was embroidered on its silver-gray collar tips-the emblem of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.

Hearing the call, he smiled and quickened his pace.

Seeing Bao Liang finally arrive, Xiao Hongchen snorted. "You're awfully slow, aren't you?"

"Ahahaha, sorry, sorry." Bao Liang rubbed the back of his head, smiling a little sheepishly. "It's my first day of school, so I spent a little longer talking with Granny Director and let her get a good look at my uniform while I was at it.

After all, it's my first time wearing the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy's uniform. How could I not let her have a proper look?"

"Hmph, you just had to show off." Xiao Hongchen rolled his eyes at him and turned toward the academy gates. "Come on, time to go in."

The three didn't take the normal admissions route. Instead, they relied on people recognizing them all the way to the admissions director's office.

The student on duty at the door simply nodded and let them through when he saw them coming-clearly, he already knew what kind of backing they had.

To put it bluntly, privileged people existed everywhere.

Just as Shrek had special admission spots, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy naturally had them too.

As direct descendants of Mingde Hall's master and the current academy director, plus his future grandson-in-law, the Hongchen siblings and Bao Liang were fully entitled to enter through special admission.

It wasn't that having privileges made someone superior; it was simply convenient.

Rather than squeeze into a long line of new students at registration, they might as well get the paperwork done directly.

"By the way, Xiao, how has your forging been progressing lately?" Bao Liang asked, walking beside Meng Hongchen as the subject suddenly came to mind.

Xiao Hongchen shrugged helplessly. "Still no progress.

I can consistently reach three feet of spiritual light with Thousand Refinement, but I'm still a long way from five.

Forging really does get harder the further you go."

"All right, enough about me." Xiao Hongchen changed the subject, turning a serious gaze on Bao Liang. "How about you? It's been almost a year, and you still haven't found a Soul Beast that meets your requirements?"

Bao Liang didn't answer immediately.

Xiao Hongchen stared at him, his voice growing low. "If you keep dragging this out, you'll ruin your own future.

Don't gamble with your prospects. How about reconsidering that Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon that's over sixty thousand years old?"

There was unmistakable displeasure and anxiety in his voice as he spoke.

Bao Liang had reached level forty long ago, but he had stubbornly delayed until now so he could find a Soul Beast that met his requirements.

His Third Soul Ring came from a thirty-five-thousand-two-hundred-year-old Destruction Dragon Turtle. Its Soul Skill was called Instant Explosion-it eliminated a bomb's pre-explosion delay, detonating it instantly instead.

But that wasn't what truly mattered. What mattered was that Instant Explosion had given Bao Liang an unprecedented trait.

As everyone knew, Soul Masters' Soul Skills had a windup, an activation process, and a cooldown.

But Bao Liang's Third Soul Skill could eliminate all of them-no windup, no recovery, no cooldown. Even the activation process for a large-scale Soul Skill could be compressed to under ten seconds, and it could even assist with activation regardless of level differences.

That was only its passive effect. When actively used, it could speed things up even further.

At the same time, Bao Liang had acquired a head External Soul Bone called the True Dragon-Slaying Crown, which appeared as a laurel crown shaped like dragon horns above his head.

It came with two Soul Skills: the first enhanced all attributes by one hundred percent and doubled the additional damage dealt to dragons; the second gave him a protective shield each time he inflicted damage, with no limit on the number of shields, while their defensive upper limit rose with the amount of damage dealt.

But the price was just as steep.

After he absorbed the Soul Bone, his Explosion Martial Soul had gone out of control again-anything Bao Liang touched with his hands would turn into a bomb and explode instantly.

From then on, he wore special restraining Soul Tool gloves personally made by Kong Deming every day. Only recently, when his spiritual power had surged, had he barely managed to offset some of the risk of losing control.

Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen hadn't been idle over the past two years, either.

Xiao Hongchen had broken through to level fifty-two and absorbed two Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear Soul Rings in succession. His gold attribute had fully evolved into ultimate gold, and he had also acquired an External Soul Bone covering his entire left arm, from the bones of his left palm and arm to his left shoulder blade.

His Third Soul Skill's counterattack shield could now be used eight times, with the number of hits per use doubled to two. The number and range of the counterattacking Dark Gold Dreadclaws had also doubled, turning it into an all-round attack.

Meanwhile, at three rings, Meng Hongchen had single-handedly hunted a mutated Ice Illusion Dream Butterfly with ice, poison, and spiritual attributes. From it, she had obtained a crown-shaped head External Soul Bone with the Soul Bone Skill Glacial Illusory Dream, a domain-type Soul Skill-making her the first of the three to possess a domain.

"Um... A-Liang..." Meng Hongchen suddenly spoke, her tone tentative. "What if you did as Xiao said and chose that Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon?" Her face was worried, but her gaze was earnest.

Bao Liang was silent for a long time.

In the end, he shook his head.

"Sister Meng, I know you and Xiao have my best interests at heart, but I still have to refuse." His tone was calm and firm. "I already know exactly what kind of Soul Beast I need for every Soul Ring slot from here on.

If I change even one, the road ahead is bound to suffer for it."

After a pause, he smiled again. "But this is a blessing in disguise, isn't it? Since I haven't absorbed a Soul Ring, I've spent all my time consolidating my foundation.

Besides, counting myself, I've got four mouths to feed. That's a lot of pressure."

He gestured as he continued, "To give you an example, my body is like a furnace.

Before, the furnace was too small and the fire too big, so my Martial Soul went out of control. Now the fire hasn't changed, but the furnace has been stretched bigger-just big enough for me to absorb my next Soul Ring.

So things are just right as they are."

When he finished, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen both fell silent for a moment.

Xiao Hongchen scratched his head in frustration. "Fine, fine, do whatever you want! Worst comes to worst, I'll protect you from now on."

Meng Hongchen couldn't help covering her mouth as she teased him. "That's right. Little A-Liang can just relax and live off Sister Meng from now on."

Bao Liang played along. "Sure, sure. Just don't look down on me when the time comes, Sister Meng."

Meng Hongchen's face turned red in an instant.

"Who would look down on you...?" she murmured, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "I even want to lock you up..."

Unfortunately, her words were so soft, so very soft, that neither Bao Liang nor Xiao Hongchen heard them.

As they talked, the three reached the dormitory area without realizing it.

Since they had already entered through the back door, their accommodations were naturally different from those of ordinary students.

Xiao and Meng's grandfather was Jing Hongchen. Given his contributions to the empire over the years, it was only right that they receive preferential treatment.

Their dormitory was a detached villa of the kind provided to academy teachers. It had three floors, exactly one for each of them.

As the girl, Meng Hongchen naturally took the top floor, which offered the most privacy. Then, at her "vehement request"-accompanied by a death glare-Xiao Hongchen moved into the first floor with a speechless look on his face, while Bao Liang took the second.

There was also a basement containing a small laboratory for making Soul Tools and a fully equipped gym.

Their accommodations were, one could say, quite satisfactory.

Ordinary students could only stay in single rooms in the dormitory buildings, but each room was about twenty square meters and came complete with a private bathroom and balcony.

Even that standard counted as generous among academies of the same level-far better than a certain so-called number one academy on the continent.

Whenever Bao Liang thought of Shrek Academy ten thousand years later, where some students still lived in thatched huts and brick-and-tile houses, and where the academy even proudly called it "building character," he could barely keep a straight face.

"Our Sun Moon Empire really is better!"

Before his words had faded, a sudden rush of wind came from the sky.

The three looked up-

A silver-white figure plummeted from high overhead and slammed straight into the bluestone paving before them like a meteorite, making the ground tremble slightly.

It was Jing Hongchen.

"Brat, come with me, quickly!" Jing Hongchen called urgently as soon as he landed, his voice brimming with excitement he could barely hide. "The Soul Beast you wanted has been found!"

Bao Liang was stunned, then frowned. "Grandpa Jing, if it's already been found, what's the hurry? Is someone competing with us for it?"

"Competing? Who could beat us to it?" Jing Hongchen waved a hand, but his expression suddenly grew grave. "No-that'll take too long to explain. Anyway, if we don't hurry, your Soul Beast will be ashes!"

"...Oh no! My Soul Beast!!!"