In a daze, Su Wen slipped into Mu Qiu'er's perspective, gazing up at heaven and earth. In the Star Dou Great Forest, the stars wheeled and years flew by. The golden-furred pup grew stout and strong. Then his own figure appeared within that view—their first meeting in the forest, and everything that followed…
After entering the academy, the vision also showed how the auspicious beast secretly kept an eye on him—like a fawning golden retriever. Seeing himself from someone else's perspective was… actually pretty fun.
But Su Wen also noticed something.
This span of time seemed to take up the majority of Mu Qiu'er's memories, playing out especially slowly—yet in truth, it was less than one ten-thousandth of the whole…
"Because the days spent with you are important."
The memory melted away, revealing Mu Qiu'er's profile. Her eyes curved into crescent moons as she clung tightly to Su Wen's waist. The two of them lay on the grass by the Lake of Life, bathing in its dense vitality.
Off to the side, the Azure Luan: "…"
Can't watch.
Master has bagged the auspicious beast too.
"Has your Third Eye evolved?" Mu Qiu'er asked softly after a long while.
"It has—the Eye of Destiny," Su Wen murmured.
With the auspicious beast's attribute as a conduit, this eye had finally been tainted with the power of fate. In the original story, the Eye of Destiny played no small role.
At the most basic level, it could improve others' luck. But since that's a nebulous thing, it mostly meant finding money or nudging minor outcomes.
Secondly, the Eye of Destiny served as a second sea of consciousness—a relay station—devouring the spiritual power in the first sea and then precipitating it at four times the intensity. Using the Eye of Destiny to cast spiritual-type soul skills massively boosted their power.
Of course, the drawback was a proportional spike in spiritual power consumption.
But once he netted the Evil Emperor with his sixth soul skill and a torrent of spiritual power poured in, that flaw wouldn't matter.
Most important of all:
Right now, the Eye of Destiny could analyze the core arrays of soul tools two major tiers above his own cultivation realm!
At least twice as high!
What did that mean?
It meant that from this moment, Su Wen had the confidence to analyze the core arrays of seventh-, even eighth-rank soul tools!
As everyone knows, the core array is the key to a soul tool—the most crucial step in its construction. If you can analyze that, then the rest—the circuit links, the shell's metalwork—becomes almost incidental.
And beyond metal forging, the heart of Douluo-craft is precisely this soul-tool core array…
"I can tell—you're happy," Mu Qiu'er said with a bright smile.
"This helps me a lot, especially for the trip to the Sun–Moon Empire. Qiu'er, thank you…" Su Wen said thoughtfully.
"If you're thankful, show it with actions," Mu Qiu'er licked her rosy lips, pure temptation.
"Mmm…"
The next instant, the two were pressed together again.
Azure Luan: "…"
It really wanted to kick them both out, but one of them was its master.
Might as well spare its eyes and settle its heart—dive to the bottom of the Lake of Life and do its daily coiling around that golden essence of life…
…
The next day.
"Morning!"
Wang Dong'er pushed open the door, brimming with energy. She flicked her powder-blue waves. "Su Wen, want to get break…fast…?! Mu Qiu'er? Why are you here?"
Surprise turned to shock.
The girl's mouth made an O as her big powder-blue eyes fixed on the bed—clothes half-undone, only half a quilt thrown over—most of a proud figure bared to the air. Mu Qiu'er's lush curves and graceful lines showed in flickers and hints.
"Why can't I be here?" Mu Qiu'er's red lips curled into a smug smile. "You're allowed to cling to Su Wen every night?"
"I…" Wang Dong'er was tongue-tied.
Her eyes, however, trailed down that ravine by instinct—gleaming snow-white, deep as a gorge. Even as a maiden, Wang Dong'er found herself lost…
"S-so… big!"
She swallowed.
If even she couldn't refuse this golden-haired bombshell, how could Su Wen…
"Damn it—thirty years west of the river, thirty years east. I just haven't developed yet. Just you wait!" Wang Dong'er's little face went taut. She spat the line and stormed off.
"A mere glowworm—how can it compete with the full moon?"
Mu Qiu'er snorted softly, then strolled in slippers to the bathroom to wash up. Su Wen had already gone to the cafeteria; she'd just been sleeping in.
…
"You two… behave."
Su Wen frowned.
At his words, both girls huffed, one blue-haired, one golden-haired, clinging to his arms left and right, heads turned away from each other, ignoring one another completely.
He hadn't expected this.
In the original, Wang Qiu'er and Wang Dong'er didn't get along—fine. But this one's Mu Qiu'er—yet they still…
Wait!
A strange light flashed in Su Wen's eyes.
Could the Tang God-King have stuffed a wisp of Xiao Qi's divine sense into the auspicious beast early on? (In the original, when the auspicious beast and Huo Yuhao exchanged memories, Wang Dong'er felt something of her own being drawn away…)
The original explained that the auspicious beast modeled its human form on Wang Dong'er by searching Huo Yuhao's memories for the goddess image from their Spirit Fusion Skill, the Goddess of Light Butterfly. But later events increasingly suggested an ambiguous bond between the two—perhaps that wisp of divine sense was the cause.
So the two of them might actually be… real sisters?!!
Su Wen's expression turned odd.
"You're all here early."
Lin Jiayi's voice came.
The Shrek students turned to see ten men and women in Mingde Hall instructor uniforms behind him. Perhaps out of courtesy, the sixth-year mentors wore somewhat kind smiles—except for one, whose face stayed cold from start to finish.
Xuan Ziwen!
Su Wen recognized him at a glance.
It wasn't that he bore hatred for Shrek students; he simply thought it a waste of time. That's the long-standing stereotype students of the Sun–Moon Empire held toward Shrek… and to be fair, Shrek's accomplishments in soul tools really were lacking.
So he felt bringing a student who had to learn everything from scratch into his lab was nothing but a waste.
But the Hall Master of Mingde Hall had given the order, and the designated few couldn't refuse.
"You'll spend ten days under these mentors. Those ten days are your evaluation period—if you pass, you enter Mingde Hall immediately when it's over. If you don't, you'll remain in the outer institute for further study. We'll be observing at all times," Lin Jiayi said with a smile.
"Let it be Xuan Ziwen," Su Wen thought, eyes narrowing.
If he wanted to win this one over, being together day and night would make it far easier—especially with a student's identity, he'd have more chances to flaunt his talent. With other teachers, it'd be hard to find the right openings to approach Xuan Ziwen.
"Su Wen!"
Lin Jiayi beamed. "You'll join Teacher Xuan Ziwen's lab for now. Though Teacher Xuan is only an eighth-rank soul engineer and a sixth-year mentor, he also bears teaching duties for Mingde Hall. The few under him are all Mingde Hall students…"
"Alright."
Su Wen kept his face unmoved, but breathed a sigh of relief inside.
At the moment Xuan Ziwen saw Su Wen, his tightly knit brows eased slightly. Clearly, he'd heard of this one.
Even if the kid knew nothing about soul tools, talent was talent—better than those who could only babble.
"Let's go," Xuan Ziwen said softly.
The two stepped out first.
…
"I know your record at Shrek, and how at this tournament you crushed the Sun–Moon Empire's Royal Team and led yours to the championship. But that only proves you're a genius soul master who ranks among the best in history. It says nothing about your talent as a soul engineer.
"You're a sixth-rank soul engineer now?"
On the way, Xuan Ziwen's tone was flat.
"No. My attainments in soul tools are next to nil. Two years ago I learned a bit about array structures in Shrek's Soul Tool Department—but only the simplest second- and third-rank arrays. I've never touched anything fourth-rank or above."
Xuan Ziwen nodded slightly, expression unruffled.
He'd expected as much.
Clearly, this was a traditional soul master prodigy who didn't value soul tools. His value here lay more in his identity and the significance of an exchange student.
At that, Xuan Ziwen tapped his card to the door lock. The heavy metal doors on both sides slid open.
Inside was a small lab.
"In that case, I'll give you a test. If you pass, you can study in my lab. If you fail… go study in the library on your own."
"Alright."
A smile tugged at Su Wen's lips.
"Make the highest-rank, perfectly crafted soul tool you believe you can currently produce." Xuan Ziwen hesitated—this one was a core figure of Shrek; even Hall Master Jing Hongchen had to pay attention. Kicking him out outright would be awkward, so he didn't make it absolute.
"…"
Su Wen thought for a moment. "Teacher Xuan, could you give me a sixth-rank soul tool core? Any one will do."
"Sixth-rank?"
Xuan Ziwen froze, then his brows knit tight.
What was this kid up to?
Take the core array he provided, then slap together some circuits and polish a shell to win by a cheap trick?
He despised that sort of so-called cleverness.
So the so-called number-one genius on the continent was only this much, then.
"Here."
Struggling down his irritation, Xuan Ziwen casually pulled a core array for a long-range soul cannon from his storage tool and tossed it to Su Wen.
"Thanks."
Su Wen smiled, clearly reading Xuan Ziwen's thoughts.
First impressions mattered, and seventh- or eighth-rank cores were riskier. Sixth-rank was the safest—perfect for showing off his replication talent to the fullest.
He picked up the metal disk, injected soul power, activated the Eye of Destiny, and began to analyze the sixth-rank soul tool.
Xuan Ziwen's brows drew together.
Half an hour passed with Su Wen still staring at the core array, and Xuan Ziwen's patience wore thin bit by bit.
Just as he was about to call it off—
Su Wen moved.
He set the sixth-rank core array aside, produced a similar piece of rare metal, studied it for a moment, and three claws sprouted from his knuckles, glowing a ghostly blue as he began to carve…