Following behind the white-haired girl with the intention of stopping her, Yun Luo felt a bone-chilling cold that seemed capable of freezing the very soul. Almost by reflex, he instantly released his martial soul.
"Wuu—"
With a low howl that resembled a wolf's cry, the muscles all over his body instantly bulged, stretching the originally loose Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy uniform to its limit. His eyes turned a bright yellow at the same time.
Yet within those eyes was a trace of instinctive fear that originated from both his martial soul and his bloodline.
His hands transformed into sharp wolf claws, and yellow fur rapidly spread across his entire body, entwined with blazing white flames.
On the original Douluo Continent, wolf-type martial souls were generally of the yin-cold attribute. A fire-attribute wolf martial soul like this was an anomaly in itself.
Yun Luo's martial soul was called the Pale Flame Wolf, a unique martial soul of the Sun Moon Empire. Those pale white flames looked eerie, but in truth, their temperature was far inferior to the flames controlled by high-grade fire-attribute martial souls.
The advantage of these pale flames lay in their extreme adhesion and spreading ability. All things considered, it could be regarded as a mid-to-high-tier martial soul.
Two yellow and two purple soul rings rapidly circled and pulsed around Yun Luo. It seemed that only by doing so could he barely maintain the possessed state of his martial soul.
And the source of all this was a girl who appeared to be around eleven years old and possessed only the cultivation of a Great Soul Master.
Compared to traditional students of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy like Yun Luo and Ke Ke, their understanding of martial souls was truly too shallow.
In contrast, Xu Zihuang saw through the crux of the matter in a single glance.
There was no mistake; this was absolute suppression on the level of martial soul attributes.
Inside Xu Zihuang's mental sea, the Million-Year Ice Silkworm, Tian Meng, was abruptly jolted awake.
"How is this possible?! Besides you, Zihuang, how could another human body possibly withstand an ultimate attribute and the Ultimate Ice at that?!"
Tian Meng had every reason to be shocked. Its homeland was in the Extreme North of the Douluo Continent. Yet even in that Extreme North, the only ice attributes that could be called ultimate were those of the Ice Empress and the ruler of the Extreme North, the Snow Empress.
Even the Titan Snow Demon King, who stood alongside the Snow Empress and Ice Empress as one of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North, was still quite a distance away from reaching the level of Ultimate Ice.
Enduring the instinctive discomfort, Yun Luo stepped into the sound-insulating barrier of the soul tool and was just about to walk forward to take the white-haired girl away when he was calmly interrupted by Xu Zihuang.
"You can continue overseeing the examination. Leave her assessment to us."
"Yes, senior." Yun Luo couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief and immediately withdrew. Since a Mingde Hall student in charge of supervision had spoken, he naturally wouldn't interfere further.
Moreover, being so close to the white-haired girl made that oppressive feeling even stronger, almost to the point of being unbearable for him.
Before leaving, he couldn't resist frowning and glancing once more at the white-haired girl.
The continuously dropping temperature made Ke Ke involuntarily shiver, but that didn't stop her from continuing to admire the beauty of the white-haired girl before her.
The light in her big eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"So tiny! So cute!"
Although the white-haired girl's expression was icy cold, her petite frame, flawless jade-like countenance, and those ethereal deep-blue eyes were absolutely capable of igniting the maternal instincts of many older girls. Ke Ke, for example. If the girl hadn't been releasing a bone-piercing chill with her martial soul, Ke Ke might have already pounced on her for a hug.
Ke Ke stood up and asked with a beaming smile, "Little sister, did you come to register all by yourself? What's your name?"
"Tch—" What answered her was the white-haired girl's cold and disgusted gaze.
The smile on Ke Ke's face instantly froze. Her eyes widened.
This old lady was actually despised?!
On the other side, Xu Zihuang's gaze focused slightly. A possibility occurred to him. Brilliant golden light blossomed in his eyes as he activated the Golden Eyes martial soul's ability to see through all illusions.
…A human?
"Have I passed?" The white-haired girl's gaze returned to Xu Zihuang, and she repeated her earlier question in a clear, cold voice.
Xu Zihuang calmly nodded.
"Your soul power meets the requirement. Register over there." As he spoke, he casually took a registration form from the stack on the table and handed it to her.
The white-haired girl quickly filled it out, said nothing more, and walked through the dedicated passage into the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy.
On the registration form was written:
Name: Bing Xue
Birthplace: Brilliant City, northeastern border of the Sun Moon Empire
Age: 10
Soul Power Rank: 28
Martial Soul: Ice Heavenly Snow Woman
"Ice Heavenly Snow Woman?! That's the Snow Empress's race! Could a human actually possess the Ice Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul?" Through Xu Zihuang's vision, Tian Meng also saw the information and once again lost its composure.
Xu Zihuang communicated with Tian Meng, "Tian Meng, you grew up in the Extreme North, too. Did you sense anything familiar from that girl just now?"
"Zihuang, I understand what you mean." Tian Meng's emotions gradually calmed, though its tone carried a hint of embarrassment.
"Well… when I was thirteen, I fell into an ice cave while fleeing from natural enemies. Of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North, the only one I ever saw with my own eyes was Bing Bing (Ice Empress). But according to my perception, that little girl just now is definitely a pure human. Moreover, the Snow Empress's cultivation is already close to 700,000 years; she couldn't possibly reincarnate as a human."
"That's not necessarily true," Xu Zihuang replied meaningfully, gazing at the slender jade-like figure of Bing Xue as she gradually disappeared from his sight.
From the memories of his previous life, he knew that the Ice Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul did indeed exist among humans. However, the appearance of this girl named Bing Xue was simply too thought-provoking.
With that 100,000-year snow lotus, the Snow Empress was indeed capable of reincarnating. And since the Ice Empress never left the Extreme North, under the Ice Empress's protection, if the Snow Empress successfully reincarnated, her age would perfectly match.
Sometimes what the eyes see is not necessarily the truth.
The Snow Empress was a unique existence born from the fortunes of heaven and earth, formed from the purest spiritual qi of heaven and earth. Her situation was similar to the Emperor Auspicious Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion; she could almost not be considered a soul beast at all. When the Three-Eyed Golden Lion took human form, even a powerhouse like Elder Xuan couldn't see through it, so it was perfectly normal for the Snow Empress's special circumstances to be undetectable.
In truth, the moment he spoke those words to Tian Meng, he already had a judgment in his heart.
Of course, from any other person's perspective, no one would ever connect the dots like this.
Xu Zihuang waved to Yun Luo in the distance and handed him the registration form. When he turned his head, he was met with Ke Ke's deeply resentful expression.
Ke Ke pouted and gave a light humph.
"Even little girls these days are such looks-chasers, huh? I really don't know what's so great about you. This lady is clearly so cute, yet she actually despised me."
She had clearly felt the stark contrast in the white-haired girl's attitude toward the two of them. If her attitude toward Xu Zihuang could only be called slightly cold, then toward Ke Ke it was pure disgust.
Though she came from a common birth, she truly hadn't suffered this kind of grievance since she was young.
Xu Zihuang only smiled and said nothing. At a time like this, he definitely wouldn't say anything to provoke Ke Ke further. And the very fact that Bing Xue treated the two of them so differently was one of the reasons he was now certain of his guess.
If Bing Xue really was the Snow Empress who had reincarnated into human form, then her disgust toward humans would be perfectly understandable. As for why she treated him differently, there was only one reason. From childhood, he had used countless top-grade heavenly treasures to solidify his foundation and cleanse the impurities from his body, and he also had the subtle transformation from the Life Gold. One could say his body was a weakened version of Life Gold itself, pure and untainted, close to nature, and free of the filth that humans inevitably carried to some degree.
Part of the reason he was so popular with the opposite sex was precisely this.
Afterward, Xu Zihuang and Ke Ke sat outside the main gate of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy for the entire day. Compared to Shrek Academy, the quality of martial souls and cultivation talent among the applicants here was indeed a tier lower, but there were quite a few strange and rare martial souls. Students with high-grade martial souls existed as well, though most were children of great clans or nobility.
During that time, Ke Ke also took the initiative to tell him the contents of Ju Zi's latest letter.
Ju Zi was currently in the southern seas of the Sun Moon Empire, exterminating rampaging sea soul beasts, and had repeatedly rendered meritorious service. She had already been promoted to the captain of a soul engineer legion squad.
Ke Ke also said that after training in seclusion in Mingde Hall for a year or two, she would join Ju Zi and enlist together.
As both a best friend and a deeply loyal and kind-hearted person, Ke Ke was undoubtedly an outstanding companion.
Dusk approached. Today was the final day of registration for the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, and by now, there were almost no more examinees left in the plaza.
Ke Ke seemed to be getting excited as she spoke, her eyes filled with longing.
"Actually, joining the army to protect the country has been my dream since I was small. Both Ju Zi Sister and I were born in the south of the Empire. Back then, that region was still the fief of His Highness the Purple Brilliance King. When His Highness was still alive, he always led the army to guard the southeastern border with the Star Luo Empire, suppressing that so-called White Tiger Duke of the Star Luo Empire for decades, preventing him from daring to step even half a pace into our territory. Impressive, right?"
Because of what happened to Ju Zi's family, she held no good feelings toward the Star Luo Empire and the White Tiger Duke; her tone even turned vicious.
"In the eyes of us commoners, His Highness the Purple Brilliance King was a hero who defended the nation and sheltered his people. If His Highness were still here, Ju Zi Sister's family would never have suffered such a tragedy." At this point, she suddenly realized something, nervously glanced around, and warned Xu Zihuang,
"Don't repeat what I just said, okay!"
"Don't worry, Senior Ke Ke." Xu Zihuang replied with a gentle smile, but from Ke Ke's angle, she could not see the profound depth hidden at the bottom of his eyes.
The next day, the new semester of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy officially began. With the influx of new students, the academy felt much livelier.
Xu Zihuang's studies in Mingde Hall clearly accelerated. Thanks to the innate ability of his Golden Eyes martial soul, he memorized the production methods of many level-8 soul tools and even one level-9 soul tool.
Jing Hongchen did not know about the ability of his Golden Eyes martial soul, so he never stopped observing other high-level soul engineers crafting soul tools.
Because Jing Hongchen simply did not believe he could understand them.
That was indeed the case; level-8 soul tools were already extremely complex for him at his current stage. But that didn't stop him from memorizing the production methods. He would record them now and try making them later when he was capable.
The level-9 soul tools crafted by Mingde Hall's high-level soul engineers were mostly done in sealed laboratories, giving him almost no chance to observe. The only level-9 soul tool he managed to memorize was the one demonstrated during a Mingde Hall instructional tour, a level-9 stationary soul cannon shell.
A level-9 stationary soul cannon shell could also be classified as a level-9 soul tool.
To completely recreate the blueprints of that level-9 stationary soul cannon shell, even with the support of the Golden Eyes' innate ability and his powerful spiritual force, it still took him a full five months.
Five months had passed, which meant he had only about half a year left to study at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy.
His own soul power cultivation had also steadily broken through to level 59, just one step away from the level-60 bottleneck.
"Phew—" Inside his dorm room, looking at the thick stack of blueprints on the metal table, Xu Zihuang let out a long breath.
"It's finally done."
Conservatively estimated, there were at least five hundred sheets. Each sheet was half the size of the metal tabletop and densely covered with annotations.
Concentrating for five consecutive months to reproduce the blueprints of a level-9 stationary soul cannon shell, even with his spiritual strength, he felt completely drained.
Xu Zihuang carefully stored the blueprints of the level-9 stationary soul cannon shell into his storage soul tool, then reached out and pinched the bridge of his nose.
If he hadn't relied on the power of the Life Gold to open a second mental sea, he really might not have been able to persevere.
But the reward was equally rich.
Afterward, instead of cultivating, Xu Zihuang simply lay down on his bed and fell asleep.
In all these years, he had never felt this exhausted. This time, he slept like the dead.
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