In the elevator heading up to the tenth floor, Hua Yichen looked at Huo Yuhao beside him and asked:
"Since you want to study Soul Spirits, have you ever heard the legend of the first Pagoda Master?"
"You mean the Ice Spirit Douluo?"
Huo Yuhao's expression showed nothing unusual; he simply let a trace of curiosity show. "There are so few stories about him. All I know is that he founded the Spirit Pagoda and developed the Soul Spirit Method. Beyond that, nothing."
Forget legends—ten thousand years ago he had been a Douluo who kept to himself, a match even for the Haotian Sect. Apart from the period when he founded the Spirit Pagoda, when he moved about somewhat more openly, he rarely appeared before others in his true form.
What the world knew of him was even less: only one of his martial souls, the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion. They did not even know of his Spirit Eyes.
Were it otherwise, he would never have appeared in the Spirit Pagoda with his original face and his Spirit Eyes martial soul.
Hua Yichen nodded. "It's true that few legends survive from the first Pagoda Master, but the legacy he left the Spirit Pagoda has endured without decline. It is also thanks to him that Soul Beasts and humans now coexist peacefully."
At this point Hua Yichen paused, then said plainly:
"You haven't studied the relevant knowledge yet, so some of these concepts may be hard to grasp. Just treat it as a story."
"In fact, with the Federation's current strength, wiping out the Soul Beast Settlements would be easy. By all logic, relations between humans and Soul Beasts should be extremely tense. Yet the first Pagoda Master seemed to have foreseen this very situation; the Soul Spirit Contract and the Contract-Release Method he left behind eased the tensions between the two sides."
Listening, Huo Yuhao recalled bit by bit the time he had created the Soul Spirit system.
The Soul Spirit Method he had left behind was not the same as the one left by the Huo Yuhao of the original work.
After all, his Elder Yi was still alive!
With Elder Yi's knowledge and experience, his research on Soul Spirits had gone deeper. He had the ability to make certain improvements and set certain limits, and he had built the Soul Spirit Contract into the Soul Spirit system!
Under that contract, absorbing a Soul Spirit required the Soul Spirit's consent and the signing of a Soul Spirit Contract; otherwise the attempt would fail.
Once the contract was signed, a Soul Spirit could grow alongside its Soul Master. If the Soul Master was strong enough, the Soul Spirit could even evolve on its own. Soul Masters meanwhile could use the contract to reach their Soul Spirits and consult with them beforehand, choosing their own Soul Skills!
For this Soul Spirit Contract, Huo Yuhao had only consulted the Blood Contract of the Holy Demon Continent; he had not added any binding master-servant clause. That cut off at the root the original work's possibility of raising and enslaving Soul Beasts!
Want to force a Soul Spirit to sign?
Certainly. First break the twenty-eight security protocols Elder Yi had left inside the Soul Spirit Contract, then reverse-engineer the cultivation system of the Holy Demon Continent. Otherwise you were dreaming.
Beyond the Soul Spirit Contract, he had also introduced the Contract-Release Method, which allowed both parties to a contract to dissolve it with each other's consent.
When Soul Spirits had just come into being ten thousand years ago, all Soul Masters had only his method for obtaining one.
In other words, they had to go through two steps: find a Soul Beast willing to become a Soul Spirit, then sign the contract at the Spirit Pagoda.
But how many Soul Beasts in this world were willing to become Soul Spirits?
At that point Huo Yuhao showed everyone another way.
He had reached an agreement with Di Tian and the Snow Empress!
With the leaders of two great Soul Beast Settlements on board, sponsorship naturally poured in, and the number of Soul Beasts willing to become Soul Spirits surged.
Then came the moment for the Contract-Release Method to prove its worth.
A Soul Spirit was a life that could grow. So what would happen if, before a Soul Master died, the contract was released and the Soul Spirit passed down to the next generation—and the next, over several generations?
Hua Yichen gave the answer.
"…Because of the Contract-Release Method, the strongest kind of Soul Spirit came into being. And that is—the Heirloom Soul Spirit!"
"In some Soul Master clans, powerful Soul Spirits that kept growing as they were passed down, their age in years climbing higher and higher, grew close to the clan and gained more and more say with each passing year, until at last they became part of the clan—Guardian Spirits."
"The heirs of those clans all have to be chosen by them. After all, a Soul Spirit Contract can only be signed with the Soul Spirit's consent, and only a Soul Spirit bound by such a contract can release it and avoid fading away with its Soul Master."
The Soul Tool elevator doors opened. Hua Yichen stepped out first and said to Huo Yuhao, who followed:
"With Heirloom Soul Spirits standing on the side of the Soul Beasts, the radicals who wanted to pen up Soul Beasts and study Soul Spirits lost their chance for good. That is why some people slander the first Pagoda Master as a Soul Beast in human form. Since you've joined the Spirit Pagoda, you'll inevitably hear these rumors. Don't let them affect you when the time comes."
"Also, when you research Soul Spirits, don't be utterly without restraint. Harming Soul Spirits reflects badly on us."
Huo Yuhao nodded, then asked curiously, "In these rumors, what Soul Beast is the Ice Spirit Douluo supposed to be in human form?"
"The Ice Empress."
"The Ice… Empress?"
Huo Yuhao's expression turned rather strange.
Hua Yichen gave a slight nod and sighed.
"That's right. The Ice Empress of ten thousand years ago, ranked seventh among the Ten Great Fierce Beasts—the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion! After all, the Ice Spirit Douluo's martial soul is the Ice Jade Scorpion!"
In the era when the Ice Spirit Douluo appeared, the Ice Empress of the Extreme North also vanished—vanished for many years, with no news of her at all.
A reasonable inference: it was during that period that the Ice Empress completed her re-cultivation and finally appeared in the human form of the Ice Spirit Douluo.
Because during that re-cultivation she saw how powerful the human world was, and sensed that the Soul Beasts would one day be rendered obsolete, she used her advantage of being a Soul Beast herself to create the Soul Spirit Contract and bind humans and Soul Spirits deeply together.
Such was the claim of those who slandered the first Pagoda Master.
And honestly, it was quite plausible—so plausible that Huo Yuhao himself wore a look beyond words.
What could he say?
If the Snow Empress weren't still around, would Su Tong have become the Snow Empress in human form? Would the Spirit Pagoda actually be a private reserve carved out by the Extreme North?
Later generations have such wild imaginations…
Amid the silence, the two walked together into a room.
The room was nearly a hundred square meters, filled with all sorts of large instruments. Inside them floated yellow orbs of light—Soul Spirits of every description.
But these were not Hua Yichen's goal.
He dismissed the staff working there and operated the instrument at the center of the room for a moment. Three pillars rose in front of them, each bearing a yellow orb of light.
"These Soul Spirits are a seven-hundred-year Ice Silkworm, a six-hundred-year Purple Spirit Bei, and a seven-hundred-year Silver Ying Beast. According to the Spirit Pagoda's research, the Soul Skills they can offer are all quite good."
Hua Yichen gestured toward the row of yellow orbs and smiled faintly at Huo Yuhao.
"Which one do you want to choose?"
Huo Yuhao did not hesitate long. Well acquainted with all three Soul Beasts, he walked straight to the Ice Silkworm Soul Spirit. "This one."
Hua Yichen was a little surprised, and the corners of his mouth curved upward.
"Why?"
"Of the three Soul Spirits, only the Ice Silkworm looks utterly unremarkable, yet it stands on equal footing with the other two. Clearly it has something special."
'This child is sharp.'
At Huo Yuhao's answer, Hua Yichen nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad. This is the first lesson I want to teach you. In the age of Soul Spirits, you can choose your Soul Skills as you please, so you must not judge Soul Beasts by the standards of the past."
"Take this Ice Silkworm. It's a Soul Beast with very weak attack power, but it can grant a spiritual-attribute Soul Master a divine skill—Simulation."
"Through spiritual fluctuations, it can distort space and simulate all manner of forms based on its own body. It has no attack power, but it is an excellent Soul Skill for support, for tripping people up, and for running away."
Saying "tripping people up" and "running away," Hua Yichen's expression did not change in the slightest.
Raw combat strength was useless on its own. Only a genius who lived could become a powerhouse!
He had no wish for the genius he had unearthed to die halfway.
Huo Yuhao's expression was just as unchanged.
Tripping people up was no crime; running away was entirely justified.
Who doesn't have enemies—who never needs a strategic retreat?
A genius who grew up was a powerhouse; one who never grew up was just a heap of yellow earth!
On this point, he and Hua Yichen were of the same mind.
Chapter 5