What was the core of a Soul Spirit Contract?
It was derived using a Blood Contract as a reference.
And what was the purpose of such a contract?
Many, and complex. But if one were to name the core benefit of this contract, it was that it allowed both signatories to nourish and feed back into each other—whether in terms of bloodline, abilities, or granting mutual feedback whenever one's strength improved.
Yet, in the end, a master-servant dynamic still existed. After all, if a contracted Soul Spirit possessed complete autonomy and could control a Soul Master's body, no Soul Master would ever dare sign one.
The Equal Contract Huo Yuhao offered, however, was entirely devoid of any master-servant dynamic.
There was indeed a side effect: if one person died, the other would also pay a heavy price. Though for them, that hardly mattered...
Thus, after confirming there were no hidden traps in this contract, Gu Yuena made her decision to sign this Equal Contract, for it stood to bring her immense benefits.
From the aura of that Super Divine Tool, she could deduce that the law this Godking comprehended was the core origin of the universe. If she could receive feedback through this contract when he returned to the Godking rank or comprehended cosmic laws, she might be able to attain the rank of Godking without having to become the Dragon God.
Of course, the probability of that was minuscule.
Yet, beyond such whimsical hopes, there were other benefits.
Using this contract as a starting point to draw closer to the "Godking Huo" in her eyes, she would have the chance to learn more intelligence about the God Realm from his lips—such as its whereabouts, when it would return, and so on.
Perhaps... they could even form an offensive and defensive alliance with a Godking!
The original purpose of coming to see Huo Yuhao had long been cast to the back of Gu Yuena's mind. A reincarnated Godking from another world stood right before her; she had to consider that this might well be the only opportunity in her lifetime!
And what about Huo Yuhao?
He was human, while Gu Yuena was a god—and the Silver Dragon King, possessing an incomparably mighty bloodline power!
Even though they had only just signed the contract, he still received a substantial amount of feedback. In Huo Yuhao's perception, the seven elements in the surrounding air—wind, space, fire, and the rest—all grew active, and the entire world seemed painted in seven colors.
Among them, the one closest to him was naturally the ice element. If he were to fight using his Ice Jade Scorpion Martial Soul right now, he could draw upon the ice elements in the air to augment himself, boosting the power of his Soul Skills by several tiers.
In the future, elevating his Ultimate Ice attribute, comprehending the laws of the ice element, and forging a corresponding God Seat would also become much easier.
This was merely the initial effect upon signing. As Gu Yuena's cultivation recovered and she returned to the god rank, the feedback she provided would only grow greater.
Huo Yuhao's eyes flickered.
'Going from zero to one is far more crucial than going from one to a hundred. Even if the subsequent feedback falls short of expectations, this alone is enough. With even a sliver of the Silver Dragon King's bloodline enhancing me, I can try for many opportunities I previously wouldn't have dared imagine.'
Gu Yuena examined herself, and after confirming that there was little immediate change within her, she looked toward Huo Yuhao with a conflicted gaze.
It seemed the other party truly had sealed all of his own power.
Thinking it over carefully, it made sense; most of the power he utilized belonged natively to the Douluo Continent...
Why did she suddenly feel like she had come out on the losing end?
To put it in human terms—had she been taken advantage of for free?
"Yuhao, do you want to try fusing this strand of bloodline into this empress's Martial Soul?"
The Ice Empress asked rather excitedly within the Sea of Spirit. "Her bloodline carries the ice attribute, and Tianmeng's Soul Skill can accomplish this!"
One of the effects of the Heavenly Silkworm Transformation Soul Skill: Breaking the Chrysalis into a Butterfly. It could absorb souls and bloodlines containing the ice attribute to fuse into the Ice Jade Scorpion Martial Soul, elevating the Martial Soul's origin and ultimately sublimating its quality!
Where the limit lay, the Ice Empress did not know, but with the foundation of the Martial Soul she had bestowed upon Yuhao, ascending to a level rivaling god-level Martial Souls like the Six-Winged Angel was absolutely feasible.
And with the Silver Dragon King's bloodline bolstering it, that path would be completely unobstructed!
"No rush."
Huo Yuhao glanced at Gu Yuena, who seemed to be spacing out, and said with an odd feeling,
"Let's wait until we obtain the Golden Dragon King's bloodline first."
For some reason, he had the strange, unsettling impression that he had just swindled an innocent young girl.
***
At the East Sea City Soul Tool Train Station, a deep-blue Soul Tool train slowly pulled into the station, decelerating to a stop.
Tang Wulin followed the flow of people out of the station. Because it was his first time in a big city, he looked around with wide-eyed curiosity.
Originally, his parents had wanted to come along as well, but living expenses in East Sea City were high, and finding suitable lodging and work would take time, so they had sent him ahead to attend school first.
As Tang Wulin walked forward, he suddenly noticed the crowd ahead parting to both sides on its own. Looking closely, he saw a Soul Tool car gleaming with a lustrous black finish parked right on the platform. To avoid it, the pedestrians were detouring around both flanks.
Beside the car, a man dressed in black had already walked over, preparing to greet the blue-clad youth walking beside Tang Wulin.
At that moment, swept along by the crowd, Tang Wulin bumped into that youth. The boy stumbled from the impact, spinning around abruptly to glare at him.
"Watch where you're going, country bumpkin!" Before the boy could even speak, the man in black panicked and snapped viciously, moving to shove Tang Wulin. But the moment his gaze fell upon the bracelet on the boy's wrist, his movements froze instantly in place.
That pagoda-shaped insignia... could it be...?
"I'm sorry!" Tang Wulin hurriedly apologized. "I didn't mean to."
"It's fine."
Seeing his bodyguard freeze, the blue-clad youth—Xie Xie—also noticed Tang Wulin's bracelet. He offered a somewhat stiff reply before leading his bodyguard toward the Soul Tool car in the distance.
Seeing this, Tang Wulin stood dazed for a moment, instinctively glancing down at the bracelet on his wrist.
He hadn't paid much attention to the man in black, but he had clearly noticed the blue-clad youth stiffen after looking at his bracelet.
"Wulin, wear it on the outside. Don't let your sleeve cover it; that way, you can avoid most trouble. Remember, try to keep it visible whenever you're outside."
The memory of his mother rolling up his sleeve to leave the bracelet exposed surfaced in Tang Wulin's mind.
"The Spirit Pagoda is a colossal faction. With this, no one will dare bully you. But you mustn't use it to bully others at school, alright?"
The Spirit Pagoda was a colossal faction... just how big was it?
Tang Wulin looked at the bracelet, rubbed it gently, and smiled.
That Spirit Pagoda Master uncle had said he could use the bracelet to collect a monthly stipend. He would go check it out later.
Tang San's divine sense: "..."
He truly did not want to watch Wulin anymore. Watching the boy fall day by day into the trap called the "Spirit Pagoda," his Fortune dwindling little by little, filled him with dread and sorrow.
Why couldn't you display a bit of your father's style—take the Spirit Pagoda's stipend and then turn around and destroy them!
Tang San's divine sense sighed deeply.
His divine sense power was limited. Monitoring Wulin's daily life constantly depleted this wisp of divine sense. If this continued over the long term, he feared even his own memories might become fragmented.
Now that Wulin was close to breaking the seal, it was best not to continue wasting divine sense to observe the outside world for the time being. In any case, given Wulin's range of activity, he likely wouldn't cross paths with the culprit stealing his Fortune.
He also needed to think about how to guide Wulin so the boy wouldn't be seduced by the Spirit Pagoda...
At the thought of the word "guide," Tang San suddenly felt a lack of confidence.
Because he remembered his previous child—Tang Wutong.
After regaining her memories, she had slacked off every day, refusing to cultivate properly.
And the Auspicious Beast windfall he had meticulously prepared for her had been nearly impossible to orchestrate because Huo Yuhao had never gone to the Star Dou Great Forest.
Once the Spirit Pagoda was established, matters grew even worse.
The Auspicious Beast had become an ambassador of peace. Flanked at all times by Fierce Beasts and Ultimate Douluo, carrying a heap of Rank 9 Soul Tool shells and Rank 9 spatial Soul Tools... she had even been educated by certain scoundrels to develop career ambition, losing all interest in romance, which multiplied the difficulty of manipulating her by dozens of times.
With all these factors stacked together, his own flesh and blood, the daughter of the Sea God, blessed by the Butterfly God—Tang Wutong—had nearly failed to become a god at all, requiring him to personally pull strings behind the scenes to give her private assistance. Did that make any sense? Was this a complete negation of his pedagogical ability?
No. Godking Tang shook his head inwardly.
That had nothing to do with his teaching capability. Wutong had simply been spoiled as a child by Xiao Wu, Da Ming, Er Ming, and the others. In the God Realm, he enjoyed a stellar reputation as the God of Wisdom—how could he possibly fail to correct Wulin, who was merely straying onto the wrong path?
With that thought, Godking Tang withdrew his divine sense from monitoring the outside world.
Chapter 27