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"Oh, we have guests."
Suddenly, Elder Mu raised his head. Almost simultaneously, everyone in the Sea God Pavilion turned their gaze toward the outside.
"Guests are welcome. Come in."
A figure walked in from outside the door.
Chen Junting immediately stood up to greet him. "Master."
The visitor was none other than Ye Xuanji.
"Old Ye? A rare guest indeed."
Elder Xuan rubbed his hands together. Seeing Elder Mu didn't object, he picked up a chicken leg to gnaw on while summoning a chair from the side, placing it beside his own.
"No need. I'll sit beside my disciple."
The chair flew to Chen Junting's side. After sitting down, Ye Xuanji continued speaking. "I've come this time to support my disciple. What? Don't you all know yet?"
Seeing Elder Mu and the others looking puzzled, Ye Xuanji also turned toward Elder Song's direction. Seeing this, Elder Song couldn't help but say helplessly.
"That's the second matter I was about to mention. First, this young man somehow underwent attribute channeling with the Emperor Auspicious Beast under mysterious circumstances. Second, when he absorbed his fifth soul ring, something unusual happened—something that could even be called a new method."
"A new method for absorbing soul rings?"
The elders of the Sea God Pavilion weren't particularly concerned about the attribute channeling matter.
After all, at most, this just meant Chen Junting had gained some benefits from the Emperor Auspicious Beast.
But a new method for absorbing soul rings was different.
Soul rings were closely related to soul masters.
Any slight change would have enormous impact!
Seeing everyone so curious, Ye Xuanji, as Chen Junting's master, couldn't help but feel incredibly proud. He patted Chen Junting's shoulder and said, "Show these old guys—and this little guy—what you've got. Anyway, this method will eventually be promoted, and we'll inevitably need to cooperate with Shrek Academy."
"Alright."
Chen Junting agreed, then walked out from his position to a relatively empty area beside the long table. With a mere thought, Mad King emerged from his body.
"Roar—"
The moment it appeared, Mad King wanted to let out a roar.
But when it saw the people before it, that challenging roar was forcibly suppressed.
Though their Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear clan was headstrong, they weren't stupid. Everyone here was a big shot. If it provoked them here, it would surely learn why flowers are so red.
"Tsk tsk tsk... This is a Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear."
A gust of wind swept past, and Elder Xuan had already appeared before Mad King. While examining it with his eyes, he even reached out to touch it from all angles.
His shabby appearance made Mad King restless.
But intimidated by the powerful aura emanating from this old man, Mad King suppressed its urge to strike back with a claw!
"His name is Mad King. He's not only my first soul spirit, but also the source of my fifth soul ring. And soul spirits are a special existence independent of soul rings, soul bones, and martial souls."
Chen Junting's words captured everyone's attention, except for Ye Xuanji, who simply sat in his chair with closed eyes, stroking his beard.
Clearly, he was already aware of the soul spirit matter.
As Chen Junting explained about soul spirits, the elders' eyes grew increasingly bright. Especially when Chen Junting mentioned that soul spirits of different ages could provide different numbers of soul rings, could help soul masters in battle, and that after a soul master's death, their soul spirit could be inherited and evolve—they felt their hearts pounding violently!
It should be noted that compared to the original story, Electrolux's divine consciousness not only still existed but was in surprisingly good condition.
Under his research, it wasn't quite comparable to ten thousand years later, but the difference was minimal. In some aspects, it was even superior.
So once this was made public, possessing a soul spirit would surely become the common goal of soul masters across the entire continent!
It could even change the entire landscape of the soul master world.
And in the competition with the Sun Moon Empire, it could help regain the disadvantaged position.
And this was the most important thing right now!
"Wonderful! Wonderful!"
The furrowed brows that had been locked in worry now relaxed.
Elder Mu gently clapped his hands. "This is one of the few good pieces of news we've received in recent times. Xiao Ye, how does your Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect plan to cooperate with our Shrek Academy?"
"Of course, Shrek provides the manpower, we provide the technology."
Seemingly prepared in advance, Ye Xuanji took out several documents. After handing one to Elder Mu, he had Zhang Lexuan distribute the others to the other Sea God Pavilion elders for them to pass around.
Amidst the rustling of paper, Elder Mu and the others remained composed.
But Yan Shaozhe's brows couldn't help but furrow.
After everyone set down the documents, Elder Mu spoke.
"Since everyone has read them, let's discuss your opinions."
"Elder Ye, please forgive my disrespect."
Yan Shaozhe bowed slightly before being the first to raise objections.
"If we follow the cooperation method proposed by your sect, wouldn't Shrek Academy be at a significant disadvantage?"
"Dean Yan is too serious."
Ye Xuanji stroked his white beard, switching to formal address.
"Cooperation is something that's negotiated. If Dean Yan is unsatisfied, everything can be discussed."
Thus, a fierce verbal battle began.
Yan Shaozhe argued his points logically, while Ye Xuanji refused to give an inch.
In the end, it was Elder Mu who made the final decision.
Shrek Academy made major concessions.
The soul spirit matter would be entirely controlled by the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, while Shrek Academy would only assist in their research and lend their support. However, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect would also need to provide significant convenience to Shrek Academy regarding soul spirit matters.
Additionally, Shrek would also need to provide the soul ring cleansing secret method.
"If that's the case, I'll go report to the Sect Master."
Ye Xuanji clasped his hands, then left with Chen Junting. Only after they left Sea God Island did Yan Shaozhe look at Elder Mu with confusion, wanting to ask why his teacher had made such a major concession.
"Shaozhe, do you know why I'm so eager about the soul spirit matter?" Before Yan Shaozhe could answer, Elder Mu continued. "It's because soul spirits can enhance soul masters' strength to some extent, thereby widening the gap between soul masters and soul guides again, helping us regain our disadvantage against the Sun Moon Empire. As for those empty honors and benefits—I'll say again, they're already too much, too great a burden."
After saying this, he no longer looked at Yan Shaozhe.
His gaze turned to the other elders, especially Xuan Zi. "You should also spend time searching for suitable elderly soul beasts starting from your fifth soul ring. As for life force and natural energy—we Shrek can afford it."
The elders looked at each other upon hearing this.
Their soul rings were all carefully selected from tens of thousands of options. Finding suitable elderly soul beasts would be difficult!
Just then, Zhang Lexuan suddenly spoke.
"Elder Mu, have you considered the possibility of contacting the core zone of the Star Dou Forest and negotiating with them to find elderly..."
"Difficult!"
Elder Mu shook his head. "In the past, this old man would have dared to try even at the cost of his skin, but with what's happened now..."
Elder Mu didn't continue.
But everyone understood what he meant.
What they didn't know was that the soul beasts had already become interested.
...
Meanwhile, on another side.
After the two left the Sea God Pavilion, Ye Xuanji took Chen Junting to the Nine Treasures Pavilion in Shrek City.
But Chen Junting was deep in thought.
Why cooperate with Shrek regarding the soul spirit matter?
First, because the soul spirit matter was significant, and the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect was relatively small. Cooperating with Shrek would allow them to use Shrek's reputation to deter other powers.
As for why not wait until Chen Junting and others had fully grown before promoting the soul spirit matter... this related to the second point.
Time waits for no one!
This "time waits for no one" didn't just refer to the approaching war, but also to his own path to godhood.
Chen Junting knew that becoming a god through belief wasn't something that could be achieved in just a few years.
If he waited until he had researched and perfected the formations, then promoted them to collect belief—who knew how many years that would take. After careful consideration, he could only promote the soul spirit method first. This way, he could start collecting belief in a few years and lay the foundation for later promoting formations to collect other beliefs. Additionally, it was also intended to strengthen the Three Nations of Douluo.
After all, during the process of collecting belief, it couldn't be that the Sun Moon Empire unified the continent and won the final victory of the war. Otherwise, collecting belief would face enormous obstacles.
Because their Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect was a power from the original Douluo Continent—if the Sun Moon Empire won, though the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect wouldn't be destroyed, it would definitely be suppressed at first.
If that happened, collecting belief would become extremely difficult.
Thus, the current situation had come about.
After the two sat down in the tea room, Chen Junting took the initiative to speak. "Master, after you return and tell the Sect Master and the uncles this news, start searching for suitable elderly soul beasts for you. Once I obtain the soul ring cleansing secret method, I'll begin contracting soul spirits for you, then evolve their cultivation levels."
Hearing this, Ye Xuanji didn't even look up.
"What? Do you have so much life force to spare?"
It turned out that under Electrolux's research, though soul ring ages couldn't be increased, the cultivation level of soul spirits could be evolved.
However, evolving soul spirits required extremely harsh conditions—massive amounts of natural energy, spiritual power, and life force.
Spiritual power wasn't lacking for those who had condensed soul cores. Natural energy wasn't a problem either since the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect could enter the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Now, the problem lay with life force.
"Not much, but enough."
As he spoke, the Eye of Fate slowly opened, and the Life Guardian Blade emerged from it, landing in Chen Junting's hand.
Seeing this, Ye Xuanji said, "You're willing to part with this?"
"Of course I am."
Chen Junting didn't hesitate at all.
Actually, for the Life Gold—even providing nine soul spirits for each of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect's eight elders, and evolving each soul spirit to a hundred-thousand-year level, it would still be a drop in the bucket.
Moreover, he had ways to replenish it.
Like that Life Gold accidentally swallowed by the Golden Tortoise.
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