"A ten-thousand-year soul spirit?" Gu Yue was slightly stunned—this was a project she had been in charge of before.
Until now, the Spirit Pagoda's artificial soul spirits were still limited to the thousand-year level.
Those ten-thousand-year soul spirits had all been converted from soul beast souls.
Because of Xia Yi, the Spirit Pagoda now only had a few remaining hundred- and thousand-year artificial soul spirits.
But those thousand-year soul spirits held no appeal for high-level soul masters.
There was no other way, so the Spirit Pagoda was willing to spare no cost in researching ten-thousand-year artificial soul spirits.
"That's right. It's precisely to develop ten-thousand-year artificial soul spirits. With the previous experimental data Miss Gu Yue researched, it won't take long for the Spirit Pagoda to develop them," Long Yali said with gratitude in her eyes as she mentioned Gu Yue. If not for the experimental data Gu Yue had previously provided, even if the Spirit Pagoda invested everything, without ten-thousand-year soul beasts to experiment with, it would've taken hundreds or even thousands of years to develop artificial soul spirits at that level.
"Yali, I have here another set of experimental data on ten-thousand-year artificial soul spirits. It's something Xia Yi and I recently compiled from our experiments. Please take it to the lab and have some Spirit Transmitters verify it." Gu Yue retrieved a document from her storage soul tool and handed it to Long Yali. In truth, she had already succeeded in creating ten-thousand-year artificial soul spirits long ago—she had just never handed the method over to the Spirit Pagoda.
Seeing the way these people looked at Xia Yi, as if they wanted to object but didn't dare, Gu Yue decided to present the data under both her and Xia Yi's names.
Previously, researching ten-thousand-year soul spirits had been for the purpose of using the Myriad Beast Platform to control soul masters.
But now that the Myriad Beast Platform had been integrated into the Genesis Origin, she had no more use for the production method of ten-thousand-year soul spirits.
So, she might as well present it in Xia Yi's name.
"Miss Na'er, what's this?" Long Yali didn't take the data from Gu Yue immediately. She glanced at the silver-haired, purple-eyed Gu Yue, then turned to Xia Yi with a questioning look.
In the Dragon Valley small world, Gu Yue had absorbed Na'er's power and returned to her original appearance—that of Na'er.
Though it wasn't exactly a secret, Gu Yue had been working on creating the soul beast God Realm since then and had rarely appeared in the Douluo Continent. Or rather, since that trip to Dragon Valley, Gu Yue had spent very little time in the human world.
Thus, very few people actually knew what Gu Yue looked like now.
Even as Leng Yaozhu's secretary, Long Yali didn't know, and she assumed the girl by Xia Yi's side was Na'er, the disciple of Shrek Academy's Sky Douluo Yun Ming.
"She's Gu Yue. Just do as she says," Xia Yi explained.
"Ah—you're Miss Gu Yue?" Long Yali was clearly surprised, curiously looking Gu Yue up and down. For a moment, she didn't know what to think.
"You'll understand in time. For now, take this data to the lab and try creating a ten-thousand-year artificial soul spirit using the methods described," Xia Yi said with a smile.
"Yes!" Long Yali nodded, accepted the experimental data from Gu Yue, and hurried toward the lab.
Leng Yaozhu hadn't been gone for long. Just after Long Yali left with the data, she returned—with Leng Yulai in tow.
"You… You're Yue'er!" Leng Yaozhu's beautiful eyes narrowed as she looked at Xia Yi and Gu Yue. Her gaze fixed on Gu Yue. She was stunned at first, but quickly caught on.
After their trip to the Dragon Valley small world, though Gu Yue had briefly returned to the Douluo Continent, Leng Yaozhu had been stationed with the Blood God Legion the whole time.
So this was her first time seeing Gu Yue since she had regained her original appearance.
"Teacher, it's me." Gu Yue gave a soft smile as she looked at Leng Yaozhu.
Receiving Gu Yue's confirmation, Leng Yaozhu stepped forward and pulled her into a tight embrace. Her eyes were misty. "You're back… that's all that matters."
"I'm fine, Teacher." Gu Yue hugged her back.
"Mhm." Leng Yaozhu nodded vigorously and hugged her once more before turning to the new recruits. "I have something urgent. Go upstairs for your interviews—let the Tower Master handle them himself."
Once the recruits had all left, Leng Yaozhu turned back to Gu Yue with a smile. "Yue'er, come tell Teacher where you've been all this time. Why haven't you come to see me?"
"Teacher, you left so suddenly earlier. Where did you go?" Gu Yue asked.
"You probably already know. The Will of the Plane appeared in the Extreme North earlier, so Yulai and I rushed over to investigate," Leng Yaozhu said as she looked at Xia Yi. "Unfortunately, it was already over by the time we arrived."
Just as Xia Yi had guessed, Leng Yaozhu had left so suddenly because of the battle between the Heart of Ice God and the Will of the Plane.
Leng Yaozhu and Leng Yulai both knew that Xia Yi had left the Heart of Ice God in the Extreme North.
So when the Plane Will suddenly appeared there, it was obvious that it was targeting the Heart of Ice God.
That's why they had rushed to check things out.
"We do know about the Will of the Plane," Xia Yi said, looking at Leng Yaozhu.
"As long as you're aware. So, tell me, what brings you here to find me?" Leng Yaozhu asked.
"Come on, Zhu'er. Do Yue'er and I need a reason to come see you?" Xia Yi grinned and took her soft hand.
"Don't you drag Yue'er into this." Leng Yaozhu snorted and pulled her hand back. "Don't think I don't know what you're up to."
"What am I up to?" Xia Yi feigned confusion.
"You just built your soul beast God Realm, and now you've come to flaunt it, haven't you?" Leng Yaozhu huffed.
A new God Realm appearing was something Leng Yaozhu could naturally sense, given her cultivation.
She could easily guess it was the soul beast God Realm.
Thinking about how the soul beasts had hogged nearly all the Abyssal energy, the energy from Devil Island, and the Genesis Force—it left Leng Yaozhu bitter.
If not for the soul beasts monopolizing all that power, how could they have created a God Realm so quickly?
"I…" Xia Yi was utterly speechless. He truly had no idea how Leng Yaozhu could come to such a wild conclusion.
Suddenly, Xia Yi noticed Leng Yulai sitting on the couch, legs crossed, a faint smile at the corner of her lips, clearly enjoying the scene between Leng Yaozhu and Gu Yue.
Gu Yue's head was lowered slightly, the tips of her ears flushed red.
"Ah—so that's what this is about." Realization dawned on Xia Yi. Leng Yaozhu's earlier remarks weren't meant for him—they were meant for Gu Yue.
She had probably guessed that Gu Yue was the so-called soul beast ruler. Even if she wasn't, she clearly held a high status among the soul beasts, just like Xia Yi.
But since Gu Yue hadn't spoken up herself, Leng Yaozhu didn't expose her directly.
Instead, she indirectly pressured her by mocking Xia Yi—to keep Gu Yue's pride in check.
The key was, judging by Gu Yue's reaction, she had come with a bit of a "showing off" mindset.
If Leng Yaozhu hadn't made the first move, Gu Yue probably would have found a way to boast later on.
No one knows a disciple better than the master.
Xia Yi was completely speechless again.
These two? Master and disciple?
He gave up and simply walked over to sit beside Leng Yulai, mimicking her pose, legs crossed, and watched the master-disciple drama unfold with great interest.
"Your harem's catching fire and you're just watching the show?" Both Gu Yue and Leng Yaozhu shot him synchronized glares, startling him so much that he immediately shrank back.
"Pfft—" Leng Yulai chuckled softly, covering her mouth.
"You just keep laughing like a fool," Leng Yaozhu rolled her eyes at her and asked, "What about the thing I asked you to prepare earlier?"
"When have I ever let you down, Sister?" Leng Yulai smiled slightly. With a flick of her hand, a spindle-shaped crystal appeared. It was about a foot long and shimmered with a strange silvery hue.
(End of Chapter)