Xu Zihuang and Ye Guyi finished breakfast while chatting.
Nana stood beside the dining table with her head slightly lowered. She couldn't see the lip movements of Xu Zihuang and Ye Guyi, and with Xu Zihuang's mental power blocking the sound, she naturally had no idea what the two were talking about.
However, she didn't think too much about it. From Nana's perspective, both Yu Tianhuang and Ye Guyi came from Shrek Academy. It was perfectly normal for the two of them to exchange information privately without wanting others to know.
Xu Zihuang withdrew his mental power, and Ye Guyi stood up, ladled a bowl of meat porridge, and handed it to Nana.
"Nana, have some too."
Nana's family, like them, had been persecuted by those evil soul masters. Their situations were similar, so she felt some empathy.
But the reason she accepted Nana so quickly was still because of the innate ability of her Holy Angel martial soul.
Ever since awakening the Holy Angel martial soul, her perception of malicious intent had become extremely keen. Although it wasn't a direct mind-reading ability, it allowed her to detect any evil thoughts in the heart of any self-aware being, whether human or soul beast.
This was precisely why she had been so uncomfortable in the bar environment before. Among those who frequented bars, how many came with pure intentions?
Yet from the depths of Nana's heart, she only sensed kindness and purity.
"Thank you, Mistress." Nana obediently took it, holding the warm meat porridge with both hands.
Ye Guyi knew she couldn't change Nana's way of addressing her for the time being, so she simply held one of Nana's hands and comforted her.
"Nana, I'm only a year or two older than you. From now on, let's just treat each other as sisters. Besides, we just destroyed a branch altar of the Holy Spirit Church. Using that kind of address would be too conspicuous."
"Mm." Nana hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded. From the look in her eyes, it was clear that this time she had truly listened.
Xu Zihuang rested his chin on his right hand, watching with a smile as the relationship between the two girls gradually grew closer.
Once Nana finished the bowl of meat porridge, he stood up.
"Let's go, Sister Lingyi."
As he spoke, he took out a translucent thousand-year ice silkworm silk mask from his storage soul tool and put it on his face. The mask fit tightly, slightly altering the contours of his facial features.
The ice silkworm clan was indeed not skilled in combat, but the silk they produced had all sorts of wonderful uses.
The method to make this ice silkworm silk mask had been taught to him by a teacher from the soul tool department. It was also one of the skills required in the Ultimate Soldier Plan.
He had made two in total, one for regular use when needed, and the other as a spare.
Naturally, the other thousand-year ice silkworm silk mask had been given to Nana.
"Wait." Just before leaving, Ye Guyi stepped lightly toward Xu Zihuang. At nearly 1.8 meters tall, she wasn't much shorter than him. Her fair, smooth forehead was level with Xu Zihuang's eyes.
Under his gaze, Ye Guyi intimately straightened his collar, then looped her arm through his and gave him a breathtaking smile.
"There, now it's perfect."
Even though the face Xu Zihuang disguised himself with wasn't as handsome as his real appearance, his transcendent aura couldn't be concealed. Standing shoulder to shoulder with the holy and elegant Ye Guyi, they looked exceptionally well-matched.
The fully adult Ye Guyi was nothing like the still slightly immature Ning Tian. The difference was immense, and Xu Zihuang felt it immediately.
He instinctively tried to pull away a little, but when he saw the calm yet slightly reproachful look in Ye Guyi's eyes, he immediately stopped.
It wasn't that he was pretending to be aloof; it was just that his current feelings toward Ye Guyi were still more akin to familial affection. Now that both of them were adults, such intimate behavior was hard to adjust to in a short time.
"Let's go." A trace of coldness entered Ye Guyi's voice as she pulled Xu Zihuang out of the room.
Nana, following behind them, had a strange look in her eyes.
She discovered that this genius youth from Shrek Academy, who was always calm and composed, seemed to be completely under control.
First floor lobby of the Silver Moon Grand Hotel. The receptionist stared blankly for a moment at Ye Guyi leaning on Xu Zihuang's shoulder, then quickly lowered her head and respectfully handed Xu Zihuang nine gold soul coin cards worth 100 each.
A top-floor room for one night, including a nutritious breakfast, costs 100 gold soul coins. It truly wasn't something everyone could afford.
After leaving the lobby, the three stopped again outside the Silver Moon Grand Hotel.
Xu Zihuang, looking somewhat unnatural, transmitted his voice to Ye Guyi using soul power: "Sister Lingyi, I'll head off first. I'll come find you again when I have time."
Ye Guyi gazed into Xu Zihuang's eyes and moved her red lips, similarly forming a thread of sound with soul power.
"Come at least once a month. Special circumstances aside."
"Alright." Xu Zihuang nodded seriously.
Coming out once a month wouldn't attract attention. Ye Guyi had clearly thought of this. After all, as a soul engineer, it was normal to frequently go out to buy and sell rare metals and soul tools.
Hearing Xu Zihuang's affirmative answer, Ye Guyi finally withdrew her arm, and a smile bloomed on her beautiful face.
"Off you go, then. I'll take Nana later to find a stable place to live in Mingdu. I'll let you know once we settle down."
Xu Zihuang met Ye Guyi's gaze for a moment, then turned and left.
Watching Xu Zihuang's back disappear, the tenderness in Ye Guyi's golden eyes gradually receded, replaced by calm determination. In her mental sea, she called out.
"Old Yi."
"Guyi girl, I know what's in your heart." After a moment of silence, an aged sigh sounded.
"To carry a blood-deep vendetta yet not let hatred cloud your eyes—I am ashamed to admit I'm inferior in this regard. That little fellow's talent, character, and fortune are all top-class; his future achievements are limitless. I believe neither you nor he will waste my lifetime of abilities. And regarding the Gold of Living Sacrifice in his hand, when the right opportunity comes, you can also teach him the correct way to use it."
…
On the other side, Xu Zihuang removed the mask in a secluded dark alley.
The Tianmeng Ice Silkworm, finally free of worries, withdrew its mental power and lazily fell asleep again.
With hazy sunlight sprinkling over him, Xu Zihuang didn't head straight toward the direction of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy. Instead, he made a detour and arrived in front of the bar from yesterday.
As he had expected, the stubborn Ke Ke was squatting at the entrance with a depressed expression, her eyes swirling with grievance. It looked like she had waited bitterly for Xu Zihuang all night.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, Ke Ke blankly raised her head.
Seeing Xu Zihuang's face, her delicate body shook. She suddenly stood up and angrily shouted, "Why did you stand me up?!"
"Do… do you really hate me that much?" As she spoke, the more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt. A layer of mist covered her eyelashes. The usually bold and carefree Ke Ke was showing this side of herself for the first time.
"I'm sorry, Senior Sister Ke Ke. It was my fault." Xu Zihuang hadn't expected Ke Ke's reaction to be so strong. He had thought yesterday about how to explain things clearly to her, but given the situation at the time, he had no choice but to leave.
Passersby walking back and forth occasionally shot contemptuous glances at Xu Zihuang.
There was no need to guess what they were thinking.
Ke Ke's current expression was far too misleading. She looked exactly like a girl abandoned by a scumbag.
Xu Zihuang remained completely unaffected by the surroundings and continued sincerely and full of apology, "How could I possibly hate you, Senior Sister Ke Ke? Over the past six months, I've seen all the care you've shown me as a senior sister."
He deliberately paused on the words "as a senior sister."
He believed Ke Ke would understand the implication.
"As a senior sister… this stinking brat!"
Ke Ke lowered her head and bit her lip, then suddenly punched Xu Zihuang's arm with her pink fist. The grievance in her eyes vanished completely as she huffed, "Then what about standing me up?! I haven't eaten anything since last night until now. I don't care you have to feed me until I'm full today!"
With that, she stormed off as if throwing a tantrum.
Xu Zihuang understood perfectly and followed.
The naturally fierce Ke Ke wasn't spoiled at all; on the contrary, she was kind-hearted and very considerate of her friends' feelings. Being with someone like her never felt tiring.
From Ke Ke's earlier reaction, she had clearly understood. As for what she truly thought deep down, only she knew.
That day, Ke Ke practically tried every snack on the snack street. Only when her stomach could hold no more did she finally stop, returning to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy together with Xu Zihuang.
In reality, the huge amount of cheap, filling, and delicious snacks had only cost Xu Zihuang a few gold soul coins.
Throughout the day, the two got along as naturally as ever, as if nothing had happened before.
That night, after reporting his safety to He Caitou, Xu Zihuang returned to his dormitory.
Three strange soul bones floated in the air under the support of his soul power, slowly rotating.
They were the two skull bones from the Nether Double-Headed Wolf and the Secret Speed Left Leg Bone that had been fused using a secret method after hunting one hundred Shadow Demon Wolves.
When Mu En had personally taught him, he had mentioned the secret to soul bone fusion from the Douluo Continent side. Once one knew the trick, fusion wasn't particularly difficult.
The only requirement was sufficiently strong mental power to control the fusion process.
Xu Zihuang drew the two Void Skull Bones closer, and in the next instant, they turned into two condensed masses of faint green gaseous light. Then the pitch-black Secret Speed Left Leg Bone also melted into an ink-like liquid light mass.
The liquid light mass constantly changed shape, finally acting as a medium to connect the two faint green gaseous masses, officially beginning the fusion process.
He could clearly sense the previously chaotic and inconsistent soul power fluctuations gradually synchronizing to the same frequency. The newly fused gaseous light mass shone brightly, dyeing the entire room in a ghostly green.
And that green was shifting toward an even deeper ink green.
In truth, soul bones from the same soul beast and of the same type already had over a 90% chance of successful fusion even without a soul bone possessing fusion properties as a medium.
Since Xu Zihuang had deliberately found such a soul bone with fusion properties, the success rate was now virtually 100%.
Moments later, the massive ink-green light mass contracted and solidified. A higher-quality new soul bone was born. It was still a skull bone, but the soul power fluctuations it emitted were even stronger than the ten-thousand-year Crimson Flame Thorn Right Arm Bone that Tang Ya had once fused with. Conservatively, it was equivalent to a soul bone from a soul beast with over fifteen thousand years of cultivation.
This was the wonder of soul bone fusion; it was never just one plus one equals two, but a true qualitative ascension.
Lying flat on the wooden bed, Xu Zihuang took out another skull bone from his storage soul tool. It was a triangular-shaped, peculiar bone roughly the same size as the newly formed Void Skull Bone.
Its color was snow-white, and within the eye sockets burned two faint yellow flames. Besides the overflowing soul power fluctuations, there was also a faint, peculiar mental energy.
This soul bone was the reward Xu Zihuang had received for winning the Shrek Academy freshman assessment championship, taken from a thirty-thousand-year Fear Demon Dragon. It had remained unused in his storage soul tool all this time.
A mental-attribute skull bone would actually suit Ye Guyi quite well, but he didn't want her to fuse only a soul bone of this level and waste her talent.
He lifted his hand, played with the two soul bones for a while using soul power, then sat up, put them away, and entered a cultivation state.
After all these twists and turns, nothing else happened during the remaining month of vacation at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy.
The vacation went exactly as planned. He spent most of the day in Mingde Hall studying, and at night, he returned to his dormitory to meditate, cultivate, or draw soul tool designs.
Ye Guyi also sent word that she and Nana had directly purchased a three-story building with a courtyard in a not particularly bustling area of Mingdu.
Before the new semester began, Xu Zihuang used the excuse of selling soul tools to quietly visit once.
Out of caution, he didn't stay long and returned to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy the same day.
After that, Xu Zihuang's second semester at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy began.
Without the Snow Empress embryo from his previous life's memories, the Body Sect never attacked Mingde Hall again. Throughout the year, Xu Zihuang kept a very low profile, studying the advanced soul tool technologies and concepts of Mingde Hall under Xuan Ziwen's guidance and his own contemplation.
He clearly already possessed the ability to create level 7 soul tools, but never revealed it.
In the blink of an eye, another year passed.
Xu Zihuang's soul power cultivation steadily broke through to level 58—just as he had estimated. In another year, right before the end of his two-and-a-half-year exchange study at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, his soul power would reach the level 60 bottleneck.
The only regret was that among his peers at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, he couldn't find anyone capable of matching him to test his current limit in combat.
This included Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan, whom he had grown familiar with over the past year and a half and who often pestered him. Ji Juechen was still manageable—he could barely spar with him in terms of intent, but Jing Ziyan was instantly defeated by him every single time.
If not for accompanying that blockhead Ji Juechen, Jing Ziyan probably would have long stopped coming to get abused. Being repeatedly crushed by Xu Zihuang like this not only didn't improve her actual combat ability but also damaged her confidence.
Inside the dormitory.
Xu Zihuang tied his increasingly long black hair into a neat wolf-tail in front of the mirror, a few strands of bright purple hair slipping out and resting against his cheek.
At sixteen years old, compared to before, his physique had become taller and more imposing, though not overly muscular. His deep purple eyes shone with restrained light. Combined with his extraordinarily handsome face and an aristocratic air that could make others feel inferior, his attractiveness to the opposite sex was undoubtedly immense.
After tidying up, Xu Zihuang prepared to go say goodbye to Ye Guyi.
For some unknown reason, Ye Guyi had insisted on staying in Mingdu for a full year. It was only during their last meeting that she agreed to leave Mingdu, saying she wanted to give him a surprise.
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