"Xuan Zi... You've become attached."
A calm voice echoed through the air.
"Elder Mu!"
"Pavilion Master!"
Everyone immediately rose and bowed respectfully.
"No need for empty formalities."
An elderly man in a wheelchair appeared quietly in their line of sight, exuding warmth and tranquility.
"I've been keeping an eye on that child. His spiritual power is exceptional—both in strength and quality. His temperament is decent as well. That boy... carries lofty ideals."
As he looked out toward the burning midday sun in the distance, Elder Mu continued:
"When did Shrek Academy become a haven for nobility? Yes, we've trained many nobles, but first and foremost, Shrek is an academy."
"Xuan Zi, what do you want a noble status for anyway? And you too, little Fan—remember, nobles need Shrek. But Shrek doesn't need nobles."
The warmth of the sun reminded him of a moment not so long ago...
"Excuse me, elder—could I pass? I need to grab that book."
In the top corridor of the library, where Elder Mu had been dozing in the sun, a student interrupted him.
"Don't you know you should respect your elders?"
"I waited thirty minutes and you didn't wake up."
"Oh..." The elder chuckled and moved his chair aside. His presence had become so faint even he hadn't noticed. Next time, don't sleep in the hallway, he thought.
"You're a second-year student, right?" he asked, noting the uniform.
The boy simply pointed to his uniform in silent acknowledgment and walked past to retrieve the book he wanted.
"The Secrets of Martial Soul Avatar?" Elder Mu glanced at the title, surprised. For a student who had just become a Soul Grandmaster, this seemed... overly ambitious.
"Everyone says Martial Soul Avatar offer comprehensive enhancement. I believe that's wrong."
"Oh? Why do you say that?"
Curious now, the elder looked at the ancient author of the text, then studied the boy more carefully.
"Avatars do enhance spiritual resistance and sensory acuity, yes. But there's one area they don't improve."
"Which is?"
"Intelligence."
The boy tapped his temple.
"And that's a serious problem. In most people's subconscious, intelligence isn't even considered a form of strength."
"Among all the powers Titled Douluo pride themselves on—intelligence isn't one of them. That's... a little sad."
Imagining a group of mighty Titled Douluo charging in with brute force but empty heads, Elder Mu couldn't help but chuckle.
"So then, how does a fire-type soul master create fire?"
"By channeling soul power to ignite it."
"Anything else?"
The elder hesitated. He didn't say "soul tool" because soul tools still required soul power.
"How would one create fire without soul power?"
Elder Mu thought for a moment, then admitted defeat with a shake of his head.
The boy pulled two stones from his spatial wristband.
Clack!
Sparks flew as the stones struck.
"Someone once discovered that certain stones, when struck together, could create sparks. He told others, and soon, everyone knew how to make fire."
"Later, someone found that fire-type soul power could do the same. But in the end—only fire-type soul masters could use that method."
"...So what you're saying is...?" the elder muttered, sinking into thought.
"Soul power is a means, not the end, Elder Douluo."
---
"I really liked something he said once:
Soul tools are not just swords and spears."
Elder Mu returned from his memory and quietly wheeled himself away.
"That boy might just be the spark this stagnant world needs. Understand? Learn more about technology. This is a real opportunity—just offer him some protection and let him grow."
Elder Xuan and Fan Yu exchanged looks. That level of praise... was no small thing.
---
Two Months Later
Unnoticed by most, two months had passed. During this time, Chen Fu had been upgrading the upper floors of Mo Ling's building, reinforcing the structure with alloy frames and decorating it with flowers from the original Lanxiang Boutique.
He also completed twenty custom soul tools—all Grade 5. Some clients even provided rare metals for their designs, which Chen Fu enthusiastically welcomed.
His production speed was astonishing. Most of the requests were for compact weaponized soul tools. With the aid of his Martial Soul, countless invisible threads extended to etch circuits at lightning speed. A standard Grade 5 soul tool could go from raw material to finished product in just two hours.
At the same time, Chen Fu gradually cleared out his inventory, listing leftover prototypes and practice pieces in the Lin Pavilion showroom for sale.
After deducting costs, he earned about 100,000 gold soul coins per month.
Typically, a Grade 5 soul tool sold for around 5,000. Custom jobs fetched even higher prices.
Now, finishing the final seal on a wristband-shaped soul tool, Chen Fu engraved his signature character [Lin] and let out a long breath.
"At last. Handcrafting integrated circuits is such a pain."
Compared to the endless trial and error and complex spiritual purification involved in [Nirvana], this soul power filtration device was far simpler. He had made time over the past two months to complete it.
"I used the mimicry technique of the Blue-Scaled Snake and mixed in some alloyed snake scales. Let's call this one... Emerald."
The band was platinum-colored, with emerald-green serpentine patterns. Once active, as it absorbed snake toxin, the patterns would deepen in color.
When the toxin accumulated to a certain level, the core program would activate, triggering a specialized alloy to consume it.
Given enough time, [Emerald] could even synthesize a drop of Blue-Scaled Snake Emperor venom.
Though... at Mo Ling's toxin accumulation rate, it would take fifty years to get one drop—even if she trained diligently.
He headed downstairs, where Mo Ling was loudly trying to sell flowers to passersby. Over the past two months, Chen Fu had received numerous complaints about "a woman interfering with soul tool browsing." He didn't quite know what to do.
Maybe he should encourage her to take up plant cultivation? It was a thought.
"Here's the item you wanted. Try it out."
He handed her the box containing [Emerald], curious about her reaction.
As the snake patterns shimmered to life, Mo Ling's face lit up with joy. Chen Fu knew—another wish granted.
"Read these when you have time. They're some of my notes on botanical cultivation—you might find them helpful."
He tossed her a spatial ring before heading back upstairs.
As for the ring—it was optimized for maximum storage space: one cubic meter packed into a compact wearable form. Very convenient.
Chen Fu planned to refine the design and offer it as a standard product next month.
As for differentiating the ring designs—that could be the job of a future apprentice. One who, according to his calculations, should be arriving soon.
On another note—his soul power had increased by one rank over the past two months, reaching Level 42. In contrast, the inner court's famed cultivation maniac had reportedly gained two levels—and was approaching Level 58.
Weren't higher levels supposed to be harder to advance? Why aren't you following the script!?
Still, she hadn't shown up to bother him for two whole months. Just training. Which... was actually kind of nice.
Chen Fu enjoyed the peace. It gave him time to dive deep into analyzing his own soul ring structure.
The configuration—yellow, yellow, purple, yellow—always felt off.
The yellow-yellow-purple combo was used to probe his Martial Soul's skill interactions. In the end, he discovered that like the Nine Heart Begonia, his Throne of Technology only had one core skill, regardless of ring combination.
The final yellow ring was a test—one born from giving up on variation. And yet... it didn't weaken the skill at all.
Compared to the Begonia's "no soul skill" issue, Chen Fu's Martial Soul retained a faint sense of function. His core ability, [Overclock], scaled exponentially:
Base material parsing speed = 1×
One ring: 2×
Two rings: 4×
Three rings: 8×
Four rings: 16×
Of course, energy consumption also increased exponentially.
"Begin recording system panel."
[System Panel Opened]