"Yanzi, I actually feel quite comfortable under this sunlight," Xu Yang remarked.
Beside him, Ye Lengleng, dressed similarly lightly, did not share Dugu Yan's sentiments. She casually replied while enjoying an ice cream, savoring its coolness.
In recent days, she had changed her perception of Xu Yang and was willing to develop a closer friendship with this disciple of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.
Meanwhile, Yufeng, Oscar, Shimo, and Shimo's brother sat quietly nearby, their eyes slightly squinted as they watched the two girls, barely able to contain their drool, completely unfazed by the heat.
Yu Tianheng was seated a short distance away from Xu Yang, meditating and focusing on his cultivation.
"Can I be like you?!" Dugu Yan rolled her eyes. Normally, such temperatures posed no issue for soul masters; they could easily dissipate the heat with their soul power.
But she was different; being a snake-type martial soul, especially a royal one like the Green Scale Snake, made her particularly sensitive to heat. Moreover, she sensed that the poison within her martial soul was stirring under the sun's energy.
It was precisely this stirring poison combined with her snake nature that made her feel extremely uncomfortable at the moment.
Since awakening her martial soul and obtaining her spirit ring, she had realized that she was affected by her own martial soul's poison. As a poison-type soul master herself, she certainly couldn't be oblivious to the existence of such toxicity within her body. However, she had been unsure how to discuss this with her grandfather and thought that once she reached a high enough cultivation level like him, she would be able to ignore it.
"I almost forgot that you are a Green Scale Snake soul master!"
Ye Lengleng said with little sincerity as she wrapped her arms around Dugu Yan and playfully shoved half-eaten ice cream into her mouth as an apology.
Dugu Yan rolled her eyes again but didn't mind; she swallowed the ice cream to alleviate the heat sensation.
Turning to look at Xu Yang who was still focused on his training, she said enviously: "It's really enviable. Xu Yang's martial soul even has the effect of accelerating cultivation! No wonder he was accepted as a disciple by Sect Master Ning; he reached level twenty-three in less than two years."
Ye Lengleng nodded in agreement. They were both envious of his martial soul's ability to assist in accelerating cultivation. Being from noble families themselves, they understood how crucial it was to cultivate during their physical development phase.
"This is a characteristic of his martial soul; you can't envy it! Instead of complaining about it now, you should focus on cultivating and close the gap between us. Look at Yu Tianheng; he's doing quite well."
Just then, Xu Yang's voice suddenly rang out. The two girls looked over to see him smiling brightly after finishing his training and gesturing for them to learn from Yu Tianheng.
Yu Tianheng was genuinely stimulated by Xu Yang's progress. With pride stemming from being part of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon lineage, he felt compelled to practice twenty-four hours a day after witnessing Xu Yang's rapid cultivation speed. He didn't want his spirit power level to be surpassed too!
The two girls exchanged glances and rolled their eyes in unison at Xu Yang's boastful demeanor.
Seeing that they were ignoring him, Xu Yang shook his head and didn't pursue the matter further. Instead, he moved to a nearby table where he took out several pieces of deep blue metal and a carving knife from his storage ring and began carving with intense focus.
He channeled his soul power into the tip of the carving knife carefully etching array patterns into the metal. This was a first-level soul guide recorded in one of the books he found in the Tianshou Royal Library—a tool designed to assist in forging soul guides akin to a magnifying glass from his previous life.
He planned to shape it into single-lens glasses for future research on other soul guides.
According to the theories in the book, what they referred to as core array patterns involved engraving corresponding soul power circuits onto metals or gems—precision was crucial. Since all soul techniques had corresponding soul power circuits, any technique could be referenced and transformed into engraved patterns that ultimately formed a soul guide.
Thus, as long as one understood the core concepts behind soul guides and possessed sufficient cultivation level—they could independently research and create some simple high-level soul guides.
Dugu Yan noticed that Xu Yang was not paying attention to her while fiddling with those metal pieces and felt a surge of irritation. As a beauty like herself, she had never been ignored like this before!
She walked over and sat beside Xu Yang curiously asking: "Xu Yang, what exactly are you doing?"
"I'm manufacturing a soul guide. I found several books about them in the library at school that piqued my interest. So I copied down their contents and decided to try making one myself!"
Xu Yang replied without looking up; with his divided attention control ability, he could easily carve while answering Dugu Yan's questions.
He truly had an interest in soul guides; back in his previous life, he considered himself somewhat of a tech enthusiast who enjoyed tinkering with mechanical parts. Upon arriving in this world and seeing such things as soul guides—he wanted to research them himself!
"Oh!"
Upon hearing it was about soul guides,
Dugu Yan immediately lost interest. She looked at Xu Yang who was completely focused on his work and advised: "Soul masters should prioritize their own strength! If you keep getting sidetracked like this—it could easily delay your cultivation!"
"It won't! As long as I don't become obsessed with it or let it take time away from my training—manufacturing soul guides will not only not hinder my progress but will also enhance my ability to manipulate my soul power!"
After finishing his last stroke,
Xu Yang looked up at Dugu Yan with a smile explaining: "Manufacturing soul guides indeed strengthens one's ability to manipulate their soul power! In just one or two weeks' time—I feel like my control over my soul power has doubled!"
Just imagine,
Carving complex core arrays onto a piece of metal no larger than a fingernail while requiring precise control over every stroke under one's manipulation—how challenging that would be! Repeating this process would naturally enhance one's control over their soul power!
As he spoke,
Xu Yang focused back on the deep blue metal piece in his hand with a smile on his face—this was the fortieth piece of sea blue gold he had consumed—finally managing to carve out the core circuit successfully!
Then under Dugu Yan's astonished gaze,
Xu Yang assembled the carved metal piece with a transparent gem into a pair of single-lens glasses.
Holding up the glasses carefully,
Xu Yang examined them closely before putting them on and channeling his soul power to begin testing them out.
In his vision,
The carving knife on the table appeared enlarged or reduced according to adjustments made by his soul power; although he couldn't determine how many times it magnified—it was incredibly clear—even revealing damage caused by solar energy on the knife itself!
(End of Chapter)