"Xuan Zi, you're back?"
Immortal Lin'er and Wang Nan's group hadn't traveled too quickly, and it was already early morning when they returned to Shrek Academy.
As soon as they landed on Sea God Island, they saw a dusty Xuan Zi.
Xuan Zi's already disheveled clothes were even more untidy, and his hair and beard, unkempt for several days, were a tangled mess.
His spirit, the Taotie Divine Ox, required constant feeding to cultivate, and after several recent battles without timely replenishment, he had visibly thinned.
As soon as he returned to Sea God Island, he began to eat voraciously, disregarding his image.
"Mm." Xuan Zi nodded. "I just heard from Mei'er about what happened in Sunset Forest. How is it there now?"
"Some spirit beasts escaped and caused considerable damage, but most of the spirit beasts were still contained around Sunset Forest and returned after the poisonous miasma was resolved."
"It's good that there weren't too many casualties. Did you figure out what was causing the poisonous miasma there?"
Immortal Lin'er didn't answer immediately. She paused before looking at Wang Nan.
The poisonous miasma was resolved by Wang Nan and Ma Xiaotao, and seeing the attitude of the spirit beasts in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well towards Wang Nan, although it wasn't explicitly stated, Immortal Lin'er had guessed some things.
On the way back, she had avoided mentioning this, also fearing that a rift might form between Wang Nan and the academy. However, Xuan Zi was unaware of the inside story, and it was difficult to conceal it when he brought it up.
"Let me explain," Wang Nan said, probably guessing her thoughts from Immortal Lin'er's expression. "That place is a treasure land."
As he had said before, he never felt that gaining something from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well would make it his private property. In fact, if anything, he owed the Icefire Dragon King a favor.
After roughly recounting what happened in Sunset Forest, Xuan Zi's eating slowed. He looked at Wang Nan's face, gradually stopped his movements, sighed deeply, and no longer inquired about the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
"When I returned from the Sun Moon Empire this time, I saw a spirit tool from a distance while passing through the border."
"What kind of spirit tool was it?" Immortal Lin'er asked, knowing that anything Xuan Zi specifically mentioned would not be ordinary.
Xuan Zi's gaze became distant as he looked forward. "Under that light, even I, fully prepared, would be severely wounded."
"What?!"
"Elder Mu once warned me that, as the Pavilion Master of Sea God Pavilion, my vision must be far-reaching. Now it seems, I am still far behind him." Xuan Zi retracted his gaze and looked at Wang Nan and the others, momentarily unsure if he was talking about the spirit tool or something else.
After saying this, Xuan Zi patted his clothes and stood up. "Alright, you've all been tired for several days. Go back and rest."
Immortal Lin'er was stunned for a moment before regaining her senses. Xuan Zi was already the strongest person in Shrek Academy. If even he said so, could the Sun Moon Empire truly be stopped?
Wang Nan sighed inwardly, already guessing what Xuan Zi was referring to. Actually, what he said wasn't entirely accurate; the Sun Moon Empire actually possessed power exceeding that of a Limit Douluo.
The reason the Tianhun Empire's defensive line was breached so quickly was probably inseparable from the young Grand Marshal of the Sun Moon Empire. But ultimately, it was because the Sun Moon Empire possessed power that surpassed the Three Great Empires.
Death God Douluo's presence in the Mingdou Mountain Range caused heavy losses for the Star Luo Empire; otherwise, a feint would not have had such an effect.
Ultimately, everything boiled down to strength.
"Everyone, go back and rest."
Immortal Lin'er's words interrupted Wang Nan's thoughts. He nodded and headed towards the dormitory building.
Several days later, Wang Nan sat on his dormitory bed, hands placed in front of him, a condensed ball of spirit power constantly rotating between his palms.
After a moment, this ball of spirit power was retracted into Wang Nan's body, and his eyes slowly opened.
With his current mental force, merely condensing the prototype of a spirit core was not difficult, and he could even effortlessly make spirit power and spatial force rotate in his palm without affecting the outside world.
However, attempting a different path from most spirit masters was not so simple.
His experience at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had brought his spirit power to a bottleneck. To advance further, he needed to condense a second spirit core.
After only a few simple attempts, Wang Nan still felt that he was missing something.
Spirit power, spirit core, attributes, insights, and the fleeting inspiration he had once had during battle—Wang Nan always felt that there was a Dao suitable for him in the unseen, but it quickly slipped through his grasp.
Closing his eyes lightly, Wang Nan searched through the depths of his mind. His past life memories were clear, but putting the texts from those memories into practice was not simple.
In his spiritual sea, the Evil Breaking Dragon subtly swam, dispelling the trace of irritation in Wang Nan's heart.
It seemed he still needed to find a reference first.
Thinking of this, Wang Nan stood up and looked out the window. The sun was bright, so he decided to temporarily put aside training.
"Xiao Nan!"
As soon as he arrived downstairs from the dormitory building, a slender figure stood before Wang Nan. Her long hair was tied into a ponytail behind her. Upon seeing Wang Nan, she was first surprised, then quickly revealed a sweet smile.
It was, of course, Gongyang Mo.
"Are you…?"
"I'm just strolling around here with nothing to do."
"Aren't you training?"
"I'm already level seventy-nine."
Wang Nan looked at Gongyang Mo upon hearing this, but his face still held a smile, showing no other expression.
"Hehe, you'll probably be disappointed if you want to see me sad. After training for so many years, I've long known this day would come."
Gongyang Mo's spirit was the Rainbow Dragon, a top-tier support system spirit not inferior to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.
However, like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, his spirit could attach a maximum of seven spirit rings, and level seventy-nine was already the limit of his cultivation.
"Are you going out for something? Do you want me to accompany you?"
"Actually, I just wanted to go for a stroll too."
"Oh, I rarely hear you say something like that. Well, that's perfect, accompany me to the Soul Guidance System." Gongyang Mo said as he walked out. "Anyway, I'm just idle; I've been thinking about making some spirit tools for fun recently."
"Alright," Wang Nan said with a smile, following him.
"Oh, by the way, can you give me some interesting ideas too? Night Xiaosheng has been making some interesting little gadgets, and every time he talks about them, he says they were your ideas."
"Sure, no problem. Speaking of which, what has Xiaosheng been busy with lately?"
"He also had a breakthrough and is now a level seven soul master. A while ago, he said he encountered a bottleneck and wanted to go to the Sun Moon Empire to see their spirit tools."
"Ah, him. He told the academy, got his leave approved, but before he even set off, news of the war breaking out reached us. Now he doesn't want to go anymore."