Time passed quietly, and a month vanished in the blink of an eye.
Inside the laboratory in the Undead Demigod Plane, Snow Empress was, as Kong Ming'an requested, condensing the numerous Spirit Abilities she had mastered into Soul Skill Modules within spirit rings using a special method.
She skillfully grabbed a Soft Bones Rabbit that had rapidly grown to a hundred years of cultivation after being fed divine blood, then directly twisted its neck to the right.
A golden spirit ring emerged from the Soft Bones Rabbit. Holding the spirit ring, Snow Empress placed it into a ring-shaped spirit tool nearby, pressed a button, and a moment later, a clean, blank spirit ring was freshly produced.
The ultimate ice and snow attribute spirit power appeared at her fingertips, and Snow Empress began to condense the "Emperor Sword: Ice Extreme Unrivaled" Soul Skill Module within the spirit ring.
She was not averse to this process, as every module she condensed was automatically recorded by the contract connecting her to Kong Ming'an, and its value was marked.
To be honest, this feeling of getting a return for every effort was truly addictive.
Watching her accumulated value grow, getting closer and closer to her desired goal, Snow Empress felt a sense of accomplishment rise inexplicably in her heart.
Carefully constructing the Soul Skill Module bit by bit, Snow Empress's gaze was calm, but her attention was still unconsciously drawn to the figure working at the desk not far away.
Over the past month, as the young man's close personal guard, she was most aware of the changes in him.
Especially the inexplicable, energy-level attraction emanating from the young man, which became more intense and clearer as time went on.
This feeling was not emotional dependence, but more like the natural resonance and closeness between two high-purity energies of the same frequency, which made her increasingly feel that Kong Ming'an was her kind.
However, Kong Ming'an never admitted it, and she no longer pressed the issue, taking it as him trying to conceal something.
So, she continued to condense Soul Skill Modules while resting her hand on the armrest, propping her chin in her palm, and watching silently.
Her ice-blue eyes held a hint of tenderness, reflecting Kong Ming'an, who was immersed in his research, and it seemed strangely peaceful.
If he truly were human... he would probably be the most unique one, wouldn't he?
On the other side, Kong Ming'an's "Elementalization" experiment was also nearing its end.
With a slight thought, a faint silver glow subtly flowed beneath the skin of his raised arm. The texture of his arm seemed to become somewhat illusory, and the surrounding space naturally rippled in circles.
At this moment, Kong Ming'an seemed to have become a spatial elemental being, naturally merging with the surrounding space, and his figure became ethereal.
Feeling his own condition, Kong Ming'an frowned slightly, not entirely satisfied.
His "Elementalization" was fundamentally different from Snow Empress's innate ability to merge with ice elements, which, given the right environment, could almost instinctively grant immunity to most physical and energy attacks.
His "Elementalization" was more like forcibly transforming his body structure into elements through absolute control, with many flaws.
For example, he could not completely immune damage, only significantly weaken attacks of the same or weaker attribute, and it required active maintenance.
The consumption was not small, far from reaching the level of Snow Empress's entirely passive skill.
In a nutshell, it had huge potential, but it was currently only in its initial stages and required significant improvement.
"Flesh and blood are still flesh and blood; transforming them into elements is a bit troublesome. I need to start from other aspects first... like Qi-Blood? Qi-Blood Transformation of the body?"
Kong Ming'an pondered, then retracted his half-finished Elementalization and recorded and archived the experimental data related to it.
Despite his dissatisfaction, he wasn't too disappointed with his experiment. Many things happen step by step; trying to achieve everything at once is not advisable.
He stood up, then took out another document.
This was a collection of Kong Deming's insights on the Body Cultivator system, along with various theoretical inspiration models, which he had gained after that battle.
This knowledge was extremely valuable, but Kong Deming's insights were a bit too numerous and varied, requiring organization.
Recently, Kong Deming had made significant progress in the research of his Natal spirit tool and was striving to become a Level 10 Soul Engineer, so this part of the research was taken over by Kong Ming'an.
It was still the same saying: the establishment of a complete system could never be built by one person alone. Brainstorming and combining the efforts of many to vigorously explore was the true Dao.
He put all these things into his Storage Ring, preparing to organize them during his fragmented time recently for future use.
After confirming that everything was packed, Kong Ming'an looked at Snow Empress.
Snow Empress understood and naturally followed behind Kong Ming'an as he stood up.
She was a guard; staying close was basic professional etiquette... Leaving the laboratory, they were met by Meng Hongchen and Xu Tianzhen, who had come to see them off.
Looking at Snow Empress, who had a cool and ethereal demeanor, behind Kong Ming'an, Miss Meng's eyes unconsciously showed a hint of helplessness.
It wasn't jealousy; after all, a few days ago when she came to find Kong Ming'an, he had already told her Snow Empress's identity and the contract for her to act as his guard.
But she still couldn't help but feel a bit exasperated.
He went out for a few days and brought back a Spirit Beast... What kind of situation was this? Not only did she have to guard against people, but now she also had to guard against Spirit Beasts?
Miss Meng felt a bit of an existential crisis.
However, at this moment, Miss Meng raised her eyes to look at Kong Ming'an, sighed, and said earnestly, "Remember to be careful."
"I thought you would want to come with me."
"Forget it. I'm not even a Spirit Ancestor yet, so there's no point in going. Next time, you can be my support Spirit Master, and we'll go on a rampage."
Miss Meng said, not showing too much disappointment.
Kong Ming'an remained silent, thought for a moment, and then moved closer again. Meng Hongchen was startled but felt her hand being gently held.
Looking down, she saw Kong Ming'an placing a small, silver metal piece engraved with complex spatial runes into her palm.
"This is a directional spatial beacon," he explained in a low voice. "If you encounter an emergency, or want to find me, activate it in the demigod plane, and you can teleport directly to my side."
Meng Hongchen blinked, then narrowed her eyes slightly, teasingly saying:
"You can't bear to part with me?"
"Moderately."
"Tsk, you're stubborn."
Meng Hongchen gave a light click of her tongue, but the corners of her mouth curved slightly.
She carefully put away the metal piece Kong Ming'an had given her, and the emotions in her ice-blue eyes settled, turning into a brief sentence:
"I'll wait for you to come back."
"Mm."
Xu Tianzhen watched silently from the side, her gaze shifting between Kong Ming'an, Meng Hongchen, and Snow Empress, and she inexplicably sighed in her heart.
Miss Meng's first-mover advantage seemed even greater than she had imagined. If this continued, she felt like she would have to be the junior later... Perhaps she would even have to help push them from behind when they ran out of energy?
A tonic... This kind of future, absolutely not!
No... even to avoid such a future, she had to find a way to come from behind and surpass them!
Xu Tianzhen was instantly filled with fighting spirit.
Snow Empress silently observed the subtle emotional changes among the few, and a hint of confusion flashed in her pure ice-blue eyes.
She temporarily couldn't quite understand the relationships between them. This strange atmosphere woven by interpersonal relationships was something she truly couldn't comprehend... Human emotions... truly incomprehensible.
Snow Empress shook her head slightly. Kong Ming'an had already finished his instructions and no longer delayed. The two stepped together into the quietly opened grey door, disappearing into the spatial fluctuations.