MTLNOVEL Chapter 8: Soul Bone
Ice Empress sighed and glanced at Tianmeng and the Junior Ice Silkworm, who were hiding in the corner.
She snorted softly, deciding to ignore them, and turned her attention to Huo Yuhao.
"Yuhao, do you need me to pass the spirit ring and return your origin to you?"
Before his rebirth, they had anticipated this situation.
As a precaution, Huo Yuhao had entrusted most of his origin to various souls for safekeeping.
When they provided him with soul ring, they would return his origin to him.
Now that Huo Yuhao had awakened her, he assumed that she would offer him a soul ring.
Huo Yuhao shook his head and replied, "No need. Elder Yi suggested that I absorb those origins later to reach level 100, and I agree that this is the best approach. After all, I have full innate soul power, and my early-stage cultivation speed won't be slow. There's no need to waste those origins now."
"Reach level 100?" The Ice Empress hesitated, then said, "Yuhao... don't push yourself too hard. We've already achieved immortality."
After all, the god-making plan was initially pursued for eternal life.
But after Elder Yi fully regained his memories, the door to immortality had already been opened.
There was no need to take the risk of becoming a god.
A faint smile appeared on Huo Yuhao's lips as he responded firmly, "Don't worry, I'm confident."
Seeing his determination, the Ice Empress, who knew his character well, realized she couldn't dissuade him.
She pouted and said, "Fine, I'll attach a soul ring to you first... Huh? Yuhao, where is the soul bone I gave you?!"
Just as she was about to attach the soul ring, the Ice Empress suddenly noticed that the torso soul bone she had given him was missing.
"Uh, have you ever seen a soul beast rebuild with a soul bone?" Huo Yuhao asked.
"But your situation is different from ours. You can't even produce your own soul ring, and this isn't a transformation-based rebirth," the Ice Empress frowned.
"Without a soul bone, your physical condition will be severely affected, which isn't good for your cultivation."
"Ice Empress, you forgot, I still have the Life Guardian Blade."
The Ice Empress was momentarily stunned, then suddenly remembered.
She had forgotten about the artifact.
The Life Guardian Blade, a carving knife made from the life gold, could be considered an artifact in the field of healing.
Huo Yuhao had obtained it from an auction house.
In the past, it had been tainted with evil thoughts and curses, turning it into a soul-devouring knife known as the Devourer.
No one dared to buy it.
Fortunately, Elder Yi had the ability to cleanse its impurities, allowing Huo Yuhao to acquire it.
With the Life Guardian Blade, as long as Huo Yuhao's Spirit Sea remained intact, no matter how severe his injuries, the blade would use his life force to heal him.
Moreover, the blade tripled Huo Yuhao's spiritual power and continuously strengthened his body, making it a cheat-like tool for cultivation.
Originally, Huo Yuhao had obtained it to heal Elder Yi's divine sense, and he hadn't used it much, which caused the Ice Empress to almost forget about it.
"But still," the Ice Empress muttered, "you're so carefree. A 100,000-year soul bone is something countless people dream of, yet you just let it go during your rebirth."
"...So, in the Ice Empress's eyes, am I that unreliable?"
Huo Yuhao smiled helplessly. "Feel your own origin. The soul bone has been sealed within you by me and Elder Yi, along with the origin."
Soul beast recultivation does not come with usable soul bones, and without knowing the potential outcomes of recultivation, Huo Yuhao naturally avoided taking unnecessary risks.
However, soul bones are different from artifacts like the Life Guardian Blade.
Carelessly removing them could harm his cultivation.
In the end, Elder Yi provided a solution: together with Huo Yuhao's origin, they sealed the soul bones within the three souls—excluding Tianmeng.
Each soul now held two soul bones.
After all, Elder Yi was a formidable figure who had even resurrected Long Haochen by extracting his heart. Preserving a few soul bones was not a difficult task for him.
"Not bad," the Ice Empress remarked after Huo Yuhao's reminder.
She noticed something unusual and glanced at him, now fully understanding the situation. "These soul bones can fuse with you at any time, can't they?"
"Exactly," Huo Yuhao replied.
"But don't worry, my current condition won't allow my soul power to improve too rapidly in a short time."
As he spoke, he was about to turn the page of the book in his hand when his spiritual probe detected movement downstairs.
He got up and headed to the first floor.
Just as An Ya rang the doorbell, she was surprised to see Huo Yuhao open the door and step out.
"Yuhao, are you going out?"
"Not really. I sensed you were coming, so I came to open the door for you," Huo Yuhao explained, shaking his head.
"Sister An Ya, you don't need to come every day."
Although he had rejected Hua Yichen's plan to assign someone to look after him, An Ya still visited daily, seemingly worried that he might suddenly disappear.
There was also a Soul Douluo secretly watching over his safety.
Clearly, it was all Hua Yichen's arrangement.
An Ya flashed her sweetest smile.
"Yuhao, you're my lifeline. If I don't keep an eye on you, and you run away one day, my livelihood would be ruined."
She had been promoted from a Spiritual transmitter to a soul research intern, with a part-time, or rather, primary, role as Huo Yuhao's guardian.
The higher-ups likely believed that since she had helped Huo Yuhao awaken his martial spirit, he would feel closer to her.
An Ya didn't refuse the arrangement; befriending a prodigy like Huo Yuhao could benefit her for life.
Moreover, compared to other troublesome children, Huo Yuhao was quiet and mature, making him easy to get along with.
"Besides, I came today for a reason. The Branch Pagoda Master asked me to bring you something," An Ya said, pulling out a ring and handing it to Huo Yuhao.
"This is a storage ring with fifty cubic meters of space. Inside are cultivation resources and some soul tools the Branch Pagoda Master wanted me to give you."
Huo Yuhao took the ring and scanned its contents with his spiritual power. His eyebrows raised in surprise at what he found.
...
In the storage ring delivered by An Ya, there were numerous cultivation resources, including heavenly and earthly treasures to enhance physical fitness and elixirs to boost soul power.
Additionally, the ring contained an invitation card and a soul guide communicator, with the contact information of Hua Yichen, An Ya, and other members of the Spirit Pagoda.
Among these items, Huo Yuhao's attention was immediately drawn to the four pills.
Three Ascending Pill and one Spirit Ascension Pill.
The Spirit Ascension Pill had existed 10,000 years ago, and Huo Yuhao even possessed its formula.
It could increase the soul power of a level 30 soul master, or, when converted to lower levels, potentially boost a level 20 soul master by three levels.
Each soul master could only consume one in their lifetime.
As for the Ascending Pills...
"The pill that directly increases the lifespan of a soul is exclusively provided to the core members of the Spirit Pagoda. One pill can extend the soul's lifespan by a hundred years."
Reading the instruction manual accompanying the Ascending Pills, Huo Yuhao rubbed his temples.
Such resources, while valuable to other forces, were more of a luxury for the core members of the Spirit Pagoda.
For them, increasing the lifespan of their souls was easier, and the Spirit Ascension Platforms served more as a training tool than a necessity.
Every organization tends to keep the best resources for itself, and the Spirit Pagoda was no exception.
After examining the pills, Huo Yuhao turned his attention to the invitation card.
It was an invitation to the Eastsea Auction, scheduled for a month later.
The auction brochure attached to it listed various rare items, including a 10,000-year-old whale gum on the penultimate page.
Whale gum, a special substance found in the brains of whale-type soul beasts, had remarkable nourishing effects on soul masters.
It strengthened the body and enhanced the capacity of muscles, bones, and meridians.
High-quality thousand-year-old whale glue could increase a soul master's endurance limit, allowing them to absorb a 500-year soul ring.
The effects of 10,000-year whale glue were even more extraordinary.
With the three Ascending Pills included, Hua Yichen's intentions were clear.
In Hua Yichen's eyes, Huo Yuhao's first soul ring was a 700-year Ice Silkworm.
These resources were meant to help him reach greater heights.
Huo Yuhao smiled and shook his head. "After all, a force is fundamentally different from an academy."
The Spirit Pagoda was an organization, distinct in nature from Shrek Academy.
Cultivating its own geniuses required going all out, and Huo Yuhao was now experiencing the privileges of being a prized talent.
With these resources, he could justify absorbing the Ice Empress's soul ring and soul bone without raising too many suspicions.
It was a calculated step forward in his cultivation journey.