After venting her frustration, the Ice Empress looked at Tianmeng and the Ice Silkworm hiding in the corners, let out a quiet, cold snort, and paid them no more mind, turning to Huo Yuhao.
"Yuhao, do you need me to return your Origin through a spirit ring?"
Before re-cultivation, they had anticipated this situation, so Huo Yuhao had entrusted most of his Origin to the various soul spirits for safekeeping, to be returned when they granted him spirit rings.
Since Huo Yuhao had awakened her now, presumably he needed her to provide a spirit ring.
Huo Yuhao shook his head in response. "No need. Elder Yi suggested I absorb those Origins in the future to assault the hundredth level, and I think that's best. After all, even starting over, I still have innate full soul power, so my early cultivation speed won't be slow. There's no need to waste those Origins."
"Assault the hundredth level?"
The Ice Empress hesitated. "Yuhao... don't push yourself. We've already attained immortality."
The God-making Plan was ultimately about immortality, but after Elder Yi fully recovered his memories, the path to immortality was already open; there was no need to risk everything for godhood.
A faint smile touched Huo Yuhao's lips. "Don't worry, I'm confident."
Seeing this, the Ice Empress, knowing his nature, realized she couldn't dissuade him. She pursed her lips. "Fine, I'll grant you an additional spirit ring first... Hm? Yuhao, where's your soul bone?!"
Just as she was about to bestow an additional spirit ring, the Ice Empress suddenly discovered that the torso soul bone she had previously given him was gone!
"Um, have you ever seen a soul beast re-cultivating with an accompanying soul bone?"
"But your situation isn't the same as ours. You can't produce spirit rings at all—you're not re-cultivating in human form." The Ice Empress frowned. "Without a soul bone, your physical constitution will suffer significantly, which is unfavorable for re-cultivation."
"Ice Empress, don't forget—I still have the Life Guardian Blade."
The Ice Empress blinked, then understood.
She had forgotten about that divine artifact.
The Life Guardian Blade, a carving knife made of Life Gold, was practically a divine artifact in the field of healing. Huo Yuhao had obtained it from an auction house.
Because it had been injected with evil thoughts and a curse, becoming the Soul-devouring Fiend Blade infamous for devouring its master, no one had dared buy it. Fortunately, Elder Yi had the ability to cleanse the corruption, which allowed Huo Yuhao to obtain it.
With the Life Guardian Blade present, as long as Huo Yuhao's Sea of Spirit remained intact, no matter how severe his injuries, the Life Guardian Blade would use vitality to restore him to health.
Moreover, nurtured by the Life Guardian Blade, Huo Yuhao's spiritual power cultivation speed would triple, and his body would grow ever stronger—a cultivation cheat device. (Because he had not absorbed other Life Gold, it had not yet transformed into the Life Sword.)
When Huo Yuhao first obtained it, he had intended it to treat Elder Yi's divine sense and had not used it much himself, which was why the Ice Empress had nearly forgotten about this carving knife.
"But that's one thing, this is another."
The Ice Empress muttered, "You're so magnanimous. A hundred-thousand-year soul bone—how many people beg for one without getting it, and you just gave it up for re-cultivation?"
"So in the Ice Empress's eyes, I'm really that unreliable?"
Huo Yuhao smiled helplessly. "Feel your own Origin. Your soul bone was sealed along with your Origin by me and Elder Yi within your bodies."
Soul beasts undergoing re-cultivation did not come with usable soul bones. Not knowing what re-cultivation would entail, Huo Yuhao naturally wouldn't take the risk.
But soul bones were unlike objects such as the Life Guardian Blade; forcibly removing them would damage his cultivation. In the end, Elder Yi provided a solution: sealing them along with his Origin within the three soul spirits other than Tianmeng, two soul bones per soul spirit.
After all, he was ruthless enough to rip out a heart to resurrect Long Hao Chen. Elder Yi said that preserving a few soul bones was no great difficulty.
"If you'd told me sooner." With Huo Yuhao's reminder, the Ice Empress finally noticed something amiss, gave him a discreet eye-roll, and came to a realization. "These soul bones can fuse with you at any time?"
"That's right, but there's no rush. My current condition isn't suitable for rapidly increasing my soul power in a short time."
Huo Yuhao said this while about to turn his book to the next page, but Spiritual Detection suddenly showed him the scene downstairs, and he got up to go to the first floor.
An Ya had just pressed the doorbell when she saw Huo Yuhao open the door and step out, somewhat surprised.
"Yuhao, are you going out?"
"No. I sensed you were coming, so I opened the door for you."
Huo Yuhao shook his head. "Sister An Ya, you don't need to come every day."
Although he had declined Hua Yichen's arrangement to have people look after him, in its place An Ya came every day to see him, acting as though she feared he might suddenly run away.
A Soul Douluo also watched over his safety in the shadows.
Clearly, both were Hua Yichen's arrangements.
An Ya flashed her sweetest smile. "Yuhao, you're my rice bowl. If I don't keep an eye on you and you run away one day, my rice bowl will be smashed."
She had been promoted, from Spirit Pagoda Master to Soul Spirit research intern, part-time—or rather, primarily—half of Huo Yuhao's guardian.
Probably the higher-ups thought that since she had helped him awaken his Martial Soul, he would be close to her, so they arranged it this way. An Ya hadn't refused; befriending a heaven's pride not yet grown into his power could benefit her for life.
And compared to brats, Huo Yuhao was quiet and mature, easy to get along with.
"Besides, I have official business today. The Pagoda Master asked me to bring you this."
An Ya took out a ring and handed it to Huo Yuhao. "This is a storage ring with fifty cubic meters of storage space. Inside are the cultivation resources and some soul tools the Pagoda Master asked me to turn over to you."
Huo Yuhao took the ring, scanned it with his spiritual power, saw what was inside, and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
...
Inside the storage ring An Ya delivered were many cultivation resources, such as precious heavenly treasures used to strengthen the physique and pills to increase soul power. Additionally, the ring contained an invitation letter and a communicator, which already stored the contact information of Hua Yichen, An Ya, and other Spirit Pagoda personnel.
Among these things, Huo Yuhao's gaze first landed on the four pills.
Three Ascension Spirit Pills, one Soul Ascension Pill.
The Soul Ascension Pill had existed ten thousand years ago; Huo Yuhao even had the formula. It could raise one level of soul power for a thirtieth-rank Soul Master; converted to below twentieth rank, it was roughly equivalent to three levels of soul power, and each Soul Master could only take one.
As for the Ascension Spirit Pill...
"A pill that directly increases a soul spirit's age, available only to internal core members of the Spirit Pagoda. One pill raises a soul spirit's age by a hundred years."
Looking at the instructions placed with the Ascension Spirit Pills, Huo Yuhao rubbed the center of his forehead.
The Ascension Platform was ultimately aimed at outside forces. Internal core members of the Spirit Pagoda who wanted to increase their soul spirits' ages obviously had simpler methods, so the Ascension Platform was more of a training tool for them.
Good things were never left for others; every force was the same.
After examining the pills he was most interested in, Huo Yuhao picked up the invitation and began reading.
It was an invitation to the East Sea Auction, taking place in one month, and it came with an auction catalog. On the second-to-last page, Huo Yuhao saw Ten Thousand Year Whale Gel.
Whale Gel was a special substance produced in the brains of whale-type soul beasts. It had excellent nourishing effects for Soul Masters, strengthening the body and enhancing the endurance of muscles, bones, and meridians. Top-quality Thousand Year Whale Gel could raise the limit of spirit rings a Soul Master could withstand by five hundred years; one could imagine the effect of Ten Thousand Year Whale Gel.
Together with the three Ascension Spirit Pills, Hua Yichen's meaning was as clear as day.
After all, in Hua Yichen's eyes, his first soul spirit was the seven-hundred-year Ice Silkworm.
Huo Yuhao smiled and shook his head. "A force is ultimately different from an academy."
The Spirit Pagoda was a force, fundamentally different in nature from Shrek Academy. Cultivating a genius for one's own force naturally meant sparing no effort.
After ten thousand years, he was finally experiencing the treatment of a genius.
With these, he could make his improvement from absorbing Ice Empress's spirit ring and soul bone seem less unreasonable.
Chapter 8