"Qiu'er, what do you think of this soul tool set?"
In the Mingde Hall, within a special training room—
In the spacious area, Xu Cheng raised his chin, signaling Wang Qiu'er to try on the newly developed "armor."
"This armor's materials fully meet the standards of a Grade 9 soul tool. Some of the metals used here are absolutely top-tier in hardness. However, its core formation is only at Grade 6. In the future, each time you advance a realm, you can come to me to replace the core formation. The external materials won't need to be changed."
"So soon?" Wang Qiu'er, half-kneeling on the ground, excitedly examined the scarlet-gold, light-looking armor set. It was clearly designed with a feminine form in mind—nothing too ornate, but it exuded a certain heroic flair. Its outer layer was covered in golden scales that, instead of appearing bulky, made the armor seem even lighter and allowed for better power release.
"You're a Golden Dragon, focused on strength. This armor's primary function is both offense and defense. Offensively, its lightweight nature enhances your strength. Defensively, it rivals Grade 7 defensive soul tools in protection. Though it lacks a light-screen shield, its defensive properties are nothing to scoff at."
"So? Satisfied?" Xu Cheng asked with a grin.
"Very!" Wang Qiu'er leapt up, wrapped her arms around Xu Cheng's neck, and gave his cheek a loud kiss.
"Try it on…" Xu Cheng encouraged her, and the changing room door slowly opened.
Wang Qiu'er emerged with a gleam of excitement on her face, her figure flickering as she appeared beside Xu Cheng.
(Concept art included, probably the most satisfying version so far, emmm...)
Hiss… why aren't you wearing anything underneath?
Xu Cheng was dumbfounded. Most of her body was covered by the metal armor, but certain parts were left exposed for visual appeal—especially the inner thighs. At least wear a combat suit under it or something!
"Does it look good?" Wang Qiu'er spun in a circle, her fair and slender hand gripping tightly as the Golden Dragon Spear materialized in her hand.
Xu Cheng could vaguely see a golden dragon phantom coiled behind her.
Yeah, it looked good. But…
"Hehe, don't worry. I'll only let my friends see this. You're my friend, right? In front of others, I'll wear something underneath." Wang Qiu'er squinted her eyes like crescent moons, smiling slyly.
She had clearly nailed Xu Cheng's mentality.
"Friend?" Na Na asked with confusion.
She cast a surprised glance at Xu Cheng, who shamelessly responded with a deadpan expression, righteous as ever: "Yeah, friends. But Qiu'er, remember—not just any guy is qualified to be your friend, especially men. I'm a guy—I know what those other guys are like better than anyone..."
"Mm-hmm, I'll definitely be wary of them!" Wang Qiu'er nodded seriously.
But the moment Xu Cheng turned his head, a sly glint flashed through her pale blue eyes, which then vanished completely the next second—leaving her looking as innocent and pure as a little lamb.
Na Na, who had caught all this: "..."
Alright, alright, you all like playing roles huh?
Fine, as long as you're happy.
Inside the Sea of Spirit—
A certain Big White Silkworm chuckled sheepishly, "Bing Bing, we're good friends too, right? Wanna go for a swim? Don't let my chubby looks fool you—I'm amazing at swimming."
From above, looking down—
The scale of the spiritual sea had become terrifyingly vast. Even most Hyper Douluo wouldn't be able to match it.
But to think that just a few years ago, it was merely a small puddle, and now it had expanded into a vast ocean...
And as the spiritual source of Skydream Iceworm continuously poured into this world like an enormous battery, filling it without end—who knew just how far it would eventually grow?
Currently, Skydream had transformed into a mini version of himself, floating adorably on the spirit sea, sun umbrella overhead, a drink in his mouth, wriggling around in comfort while calling out to Ice Empress.
"Hmph, who's your friend?" Ice Empress coldly emerged from the sea surface.
Her gaze turned upward.
There, a light screen was broadcasting the events of the real world.
Of course, this screen was usually on—only very occasionally would Xu Cheng deliberately shut it off.
"That's... a Sacred Beast. To think I've been asleep so long, and that creature ended up here in the Sun-Moon Empire as well."
"Shouldn't your focus be on the fact that this Sacred Beast is also falling for him?" Skydream said with a mischievous grin.
"Falling for him?" Ice Empress replied calmly. "If you mean their first meeting, where Xu Cheng exchanged memories with her as a form of leveraging—then yes, it was mutual use. But now... it's no longer clear who's using who. In the end, it's mutually beneficial. On our path to godhood, having an Emperor-class Sacred Beast alongside us—how is that not a good thing?"
"Of course, the ideal situation would actually be to kill her for a spirit ring—or better yet, receive her sacrifice. That way, we'd get the maximum boost in fortune."
"Yikes, that's pretty dark, woman..." Skydream shrank back slightly.
"Just a fact. Though, it's only a thought—Ah Cheng would never do such a thing. He'd rather die than accept a Sacred Beast's sacrifice..." Ice Empress said with a trace of emotion.
Though perhaps she didn't even realize that mixed in with her lament was a hint of relief.
A leader who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals can make all the right decisions—but people would never entrust their hearts to him...
"By the way, other than Di Tian, are there any other strong beings in the Great Star Dou Forest?" Ice Empress asked softly.
"Uh, yes. Back when I was suppressed underground by Di Tian and the others, treated like a battery, I could feel that the one drawing the most power from me... was a being from deep beneath the Lake of Life. She was shamelessly absorbing it all—her strength is unfathomable... In my opinion, she could crush Di Tian and the rest with a single hand."
"So powerful?" Ice Empress's eyes showed a rare flicker of astonishment.
But then she let out a chuckle. "Looks like that bunch from the Star Dou Forest isn't all that. That drop of the so-called Water of Life they went through so much trouble to get was nothing more than someone's foot wash, and yet they acted like they'd found divine nectar. Just thinking about their expressions makes me laugh."
"We have a grudge against them?" Tianmeng asked curiously.
"No grudge. I just can't stand them showing off, acting like the Star Dou Forest is the center of the universe…" Bingdi cursed.
"Well… it is kind of true… Ow!"
...
"Nether Ghost Blade!"
"First Soul Skill, Speed Boost! Second Soul Skill, Clone! Third Soul Skill, Ghost Possession!"
On the training field.
Na Na's beautiful eyes were filled with a hint of seriousness. She went all out the moment she entered the field.
Yellow, yellow, purple—three soul rings appeared in succession.
She held a pair of gray short daggers, drifting like a ghost with a trail of ashen particle effects. Her flickering form left behind one phantom after another, her speed nearly impossible to track.
Xu Cheng gave her only one instruction: fast, precise, and ruthless. She was to act as a pure assassin. After all, in the original story she even wielded a greatsword—can you believe it? With a ghost-type martial soul, she was practically born to be an assassin. Using her as a warrior was a total waste of talent.
The short daggers were adaptive soul tools personally forged by Elder Cheng—no question about their power.
The battlefield was heating up.
To be fair, if it were the Na Na from the original, she wouldn't have lasted a single round against Wang Qiu'er.
But now, after Xu Cheng's training and having reached the Soul King level early, Na Na managed to hold her ground for a while. Her extreme speed made even Wang Qiu'er struggle to pin her down. The field was full of her afterimages, making it hard to track her with the naked eye.
And her constant harassment as an assassin was a real headache.
Until Wang Qiu'er seized an opening. When Na Na got too close, she unleashed her fourth soul skill, "Golden Dragon Explosion" (a triple blast centered on herself), forcing Na Na out of stealth. She then capitalized with a flurry of attacks, leaving Na Na no chance to fight back. Na Na surrendered without resistance.
"Stealth is strong, but if you can't kill in one blow and they counter, you've already lost," Wang Qiu'er said with a slight nod, giving a fair evaluation.
"Thank you…"
Na Na wiped the sweat from her forehead and glanced at Wang Qiu'er with a complicated expression.
This girl was like a beast in human skin. Na Na had encountered strength-type martial souls before, but this Golden Dragon was absolutely on another level! No wonder it was a top-tier martial soul...
"How did the battle feel?" Xu Cheng asked with a smile.
"She went easy on me. If it were a fight to the death, I wouldn't last a minute," Na Na admitted frankly, clasping her fists.
"This armor can increase strength by about ten percent, consumes very little soul power, doesn't interfere with combat, and is extremely light—practically weightless. The defense is strong too, able to withstand a full-force attack from a fifty-thousand-year soul beast," Wang Qiu'er said after some thought.
"Can we change the comparison? Use peak Soul Sage or Soul Douluo instead," Xu Cheng chuckled.
"With the upcoming academy tournament, it looks like you don't have any real competition. Pity Old Ji isn't around—he would've loved to spar with you."
"Oh wait, Ma Xiaotao might step in. And Chen Zifeng, that guy has basically gone fully mechanical—mechanical ascension, his strength has skyrocketed. They'll be your strongest opponents."
"Will the Holy Spirit Cult be participating too?" Na Na asked in surprise.
"Yes, Elder Jing said so. They plan to join the Continental Advanced Academy Tournament four years from now, so this is like an early preview," Xu Cheng nodded.
"But those Holy Spirit Cult people... they don't know how to hold back," Na Na hesitated.
"Heh. If they hit too hard, I'll send them to the Myriad Soul Banner to reunite. This is a critical period—the point of this tournament is to showcase the strength of the Sun Moon Empire's Royal Academy and draw in hidden clans, not make enemies. If they mess things up, I'll take out the entire escort group with them," Xu Cheng said with a smile, though the chill in his eyes dropped the room's temperature.
Hit too hard? An accident? He'd make sure these "mad dogs" had a clear perspective.
"Also, it's time for our people to show themselves too," Xu Cheng said thoughtfully.
Ever since he became the Holy Son of the Holy Spirit Cult, he'd been building his faction internally and recruiting talents from the outside to expand his influence.
Those external members came from the Mingyu Sect.
In the original, the Mingyu Sect didn't have much screen time, only appearing in the second Continental Soul Master Tournament where they became stepping stones for Tang Sect. But they had great potential.
Several members who appeared in that tournament fought the protagonist group evenly, showing off their talent. One of them, a vampire bat soul master named Ade, caught Zhongli Wu's attention immediately—he even wanted to steal him back for the Holy Spirit Cult. Ade's sister, Cain, possessed the Darkgold Three-Headed Bat King martial soul and was now at the peak of the Soul King level, close to breaking through to Soul Emperor.
The Mingyu Sect was a local force from Mingdu, combining soul tools with close combat—similar to Na Na's style.
Cain had joined the Holy Spirit Cult from the start and remained a loyal follower of Xu Cheng.
Now that the groundwork was laid, there was no need to hide her—no need to fear Zhongli Wu might steal her away…
"…Understood!" A flash of joy appeared in Na Na's eyes.
She had a good relationship with Cain, after all, they were from the same faction under Xu Cheng.
In the past, Xu Cheng had only made them train hard. Now was finally their chance to shine. They were young and talented, yet had remained hidden—like wearing fine clothes in the dark.
"Qiu'er, how does your Star Dou Forest view Shrek Academy?"
As things settled down, Xu Cheng suddenly asked out of curiosity.
"Why are you asking that all of a sudden?" Wang Qiu'er frowned slightly. "To us, Shrek Academy is a bunch of robbers and thieves. Over the past ten thousand years, since their founding, they've killed at least a hundred hundred-thousand-year soul beasts in the Star Dou Forest. How could we possibly like them? All we feel is anger."
"A hundred? Damn…" Xu Cheng winced, but thinking carefully, it made sense. Each Sea God Pavilion Master needed at least one hundred-thousand-year soul ring, right? There were three or four such people at any time, and the ninth ring was always red…
Doing the math…
"Then what the Body Sect did is nothing in comparison?"
"The Body Sect? Them? I barely remember them. Yeah, they were bad too, but nowhere near as bad as Shrek," Wang Qiu'er snorted.
Clearly, she had a major grudge against Shrek Academy.
"I remember years ago, the Body Sect rushed into the Star Dou Forest and hunted down seven hundred-thousand-year soul beasts in a row, even causing a beast tide…" Na Na added curiously.
"Pfft, that was because Shrek Academy already hunted too many. Ditian was already furious. Then the Body Sect—without any tact—went in and stirred the pot…" Wang Qiu'er snorted coldly.
"Ditian finally lost it, wanted to start a war with humanity. But at the time, there seemed to be some kind of concern, or something inside Shrek that made him back down."
"I see," Xu Cheng nodded in realization.
So Shrek pinned the blame on the Body Sect while playing righteous.
Sure, the Body Sect killed seven. But Shrek, living right next door to the Star Dou Forest, had killed over a hundred over the millennia. Who was truly responsible for the chaos?
"Pity. I was interested in Shrek's library, but after hearing all that, I don't think I'll be going," Xu Cheng shook his head slightly.
Of course, what he wanted wasn't Shrek's books—but the ones left behind by the Spirit Hall. After the Spirit Hall was destroyed ten thousand years ago, where did all those precious tomes go? He was genuinely curious about history from ten thousand years ago, but the original barely touched on it.
"Xu Cheng, I heard from Elder Cheng there's another way of preserving soul beast life—through soul spirits. Is that true?"
Wang Qiu'er, looking a bit down, suddenly perked up and gazed at him with big blue eyes full of hope.