The Principles Behind Spirit Souls Providing Multiple Spirit Rings.
Distribution of Inherited Spirit Soul Families.
Fundamentals of Mecha Construction.
...
In the Eastsea Spirit Transmission Tower's library, An Ya watched Huo Yuhao submerge himself in a sea of books, ten volumes stacked in plain view beside him, and felt a twitch developing at the corner of her eye. She was starting to think she needed to have a word with the Tower Master about imposing some limits.
Even a genius was still a person, not a machine.
For an entire month, Huo Yuhao had divided his time between cultivating and reading at home or here in the library living on a perfectly straight track between three fixed points, day after day.
If it had been for appearances, she could have let it go. But when she had tested him, probing gently at his understanding across various subjects, she discovered that Huo Yuhao's grasp of the material was already sharper than her own in multiple areas.
And she was a mecha designer by secondary profession, currently serving as a Spirit Soul Research Intern at the Spirit Transmission Tower. A six-year-old boy better than her?
Was that reasonable? It was not reasonable.
An Ya was developing serious suspicions that Huo Yuhao had not slept a proper night since joining the Tower, and was simply pouring every waking hour into studying and cultivating.
"Sister An Ya? Are you here to borrow books as well?"
Huo Yuhao finished the last volume, rose to leave, noticed An Ya standing to the side, and picked up one of the books from the stack to offer her.
"I'd recommend this one. The perspective on Spirit Souls inside is quite original it should be useful for your internship."
One should never underestimate the wisdom others had accumulated.
Through the long sweep of ten thousand years, the knowledge systems surrounding Spirit Souls and soul tools had grown into something enormous. He needed to invest considerable time and effort to work through it all and make it genuinely his own.
An Ya looked down at the book now in her hand — Similarities and Differences Between Spirit Souls and Transformed Spirit Beasts in Generating Spirit Rings and felt another twitch at her eye. She forced a smile. "Thank you, Yuhao. I'll get to it. But actually, I came here looking for you."
She quietly tucked the book away, planning to return it to the shelf at the first opportunity, and continued: "You haven't forgotten what today is, have you?"
Huo Yuhao tapped his chin. "The one-month anniversary of my joining the Spirit Transmission Tower?"
An Ya: "…"
She hadn't noticed before, but this child was surprisingly full of himself.
"I'm joking." Huo Yuhao smiled. "I remember the auction starts today, doesn't it?"
He had never had the chance to experience Whale Gelatin ten thousand years ago. It would be worth trying this time.
Though…
"Why is the Tower Master accompanying us personally?"
Standing at the entrance of the Spirit Transmission Tower, Huo Yuhao looked at Hua Yichen waiting for them outside, then glanced at an equally bewildered An Ya, his expression twitching slightly.
As Tower Master, was Hua Yichen not perhaps a little too free with his time? Over the past month, they had met no fewer than ten times. Did the man have nothing else to attend to?
On his end, Hua Yichen looked at Huo Yuhao — dressed now in formal attire — and gave an approving smile.
"It suits you."
Huo Yuhao had changed into a silver-trimmed formal outfit crafted specifically for the Spirit Transmission Tower, one of the items that had been stored in the ring prepared for precisely this sort of occasion.
Seeming to read their confusion, Hua Yichen offered an explanation.
"The plan has changed. The final lot at this auction is particularly valuable, and every notable figure in Eastsea City will be attending. It's most appropriate for me to go in person."
Something shifted in Huo Yuhao's expression. He gave a thoughtful nod, climbed into the soul-powered vehicle alongside Hua Yichen, and they set off toward the city center leaving An Ya standing behind them in the wind, thoroughly bewildered.
Wasn't this supposed to be her job?
No matter how valuable the auction item, surely it didn't require the Tower Master's personal attendance?
Unless… the rumor that the Tower Master enjoyed wandering the streets and browsing the city at leisure was actually true?
It did match his title rather well, she supposed.
...
Eastsea City's auction venue was jointly operated with the local museum. The museum had a dedicated exhibition area for auction items, which held regular sales.
Huo Yuhao had a faint memory of this place being mentioned somewhere in his recollections Tang Wulin had brought it up during one of his more troubled moments over the Golden Dragon King's seal.
That thought led naturally to the Golden Dragon King, and Huo Yuhao found himself looking out the window at the passing scenery, turning something over in his mind.
In the Divine Realm War of Douluo, his role had not been particularly decisive. He had spent most of it either fetching reinforcements or on his way to fetch reinforcements. His exchange with the God King of Destruction had demonstrated the talent needed to become a God King, but had produced no concrete results.
Beyond that he had never ascended to godhood. Tang San would certainly have revised his plans. The Goddess of Life had her own leanings, and would in all likelihood have sided with Tang San against her own husband. So the outcome of the Divine Realm's internal war was probably unchanged.
Which meant the Golden Dragon King's divine core was still residing inside Tang Wulin.
"Thinking about the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Gelatin?"
Hua Yichen noticed Huo Yuhao's distraction and smiled. "With the Whale Gelatin and the Spirit Elevation Pills together, your first Spirit Soul should be able to advance to the thousand-year level in the shortest possible time."
"You're the first person I've ever encountered who could reach that threshold so soon after obtaining their first Spirit Soul."
He paused there, then looked at Huo Yuhao directly. "But the stronger the talent, the more important it is to know when to hold back. Don't let it go to your head. How is your Imitation Spirit Ability coming along?"
"Imitation isn't my first Spirit Ability."
The words made Hua Yichen's brow furrow and then a ring of yellow light appeared around Huo Yuhao. He activated Spiritual Detection and Spiritual Sharing simultaneously. "Please relax your mind. Let me show you."
In an instant, the scenery rushing past outside became vivid and clear to Hua Yichen the tracks left by vehicles on the road, the internal structure of the soul-powered vehicle they were riding in, every detail registering with sudden and startling precision.
For a moment, even with Hua Yichen's composure, his expression froze. His thoughts turned uncertain.
"This is my first Spirit Ability Spiritual Detection Sharing."
Huo Yuhao smiled calmly. "At present, it covers a radius of twenty meters. Narrowing the detection range increases precision which makes it extremely useful for researching soul tools and Spirit Souls. As for Imitation, I intend to reserve it as my second Spirit Ability. That shouldn't be a problem, should it, Teacher Hua?"
Hua Yichen: "No — no problem at all…"
No problem? It was nothing short of extraordinary.
Hua Yichen drew a slow breath and pressed down the shock surging inside him, fixing Huo Yuhao with an expression of considerable complexity.
Why had he placed the Ice Silkworm in front of Huo Yuhao as an option? Because the Ice Silkworm was his own first Spirit Soul. The practical value of Imitation was something he knew from direct personal experience.
But could someone explain to him why when both of them had an Ice Silkworm his had only given him Imitation, with no Spiritual Detection Sharing whatsoever? Had Huo Yuhao's Ice Silkworm somehow mutated?
Yes. Hua Yichen was jealous. Profoundly, thoroughly jealous.
With this single Spirit Ability alone, even if Huo Yuhao never reached the highest tier of Spirit Mastery, he could still ascend to the very peak of mecha design, mecha construction, or any number of related fields.
While Hua Yichen was still processing all of this, the soul-powered vehicle arrived at the Eastsea Museum.
Still inside the shared Spiritual Detection, Hua Yichen immediately became aware of one particular figure in the crowd.
The Eastsea Museum was situated in the southern half of Eastsea City's downtown core a complex of classical architecture comprising one main building and two auxiliary wings.
In front of the museum, two people had stepped out of a vehicle.
One was a pretty girl with a golden ponytail and bright blue eyes. The other appeared to be around forty years of age, his powerfully built frame outlined by a fitted silver-grey outfit. On his left chest was pinned a badge.
The badge's background was gold, bearing a slightly raised hammer motif. The stars upon it were black eight of them in total, marking the wearer as an Eight-Star Saint Craftsman.