"They're all quite good. In the future, they'll all be sharp weapons against Shrek Academy."
Jiang Jue paused slightly, then turned around and replied.
"You know that's not what I meant."
Zhongli Wu said with a rare smile.
"Especially that Ma Xiaotao. When I brought her back to the Church back then, she didn't resist at all. That should have something to do with you, right?"
Jiang Jue nodded slightly.
"At the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament, I intervened a little and further stimulated the evil fire within her body."
"Not bad. Ma Xiaotao's talent is quite excellent. It's really a pity she was in Shrek Academy. Her looks and figure are also quite good—she's worthy of you, my disciple…"
Before Jiang Jue could respond, Zhongli Wu waved his hand.
"Of course, the choice is still yours. But when a flower is ready to be plucked, pluck it—don't regret it later. Heh… hahaha."
"Master, what about Tang Ya?"
Jiang Jue slowly shook his head and asked softly.
"Her? She's quite stubborn. Sometimes she can even regain consciousness from the backlash of her martial soul. I never expected the lowest-grade Blue Silver Grass could mutate into something like that…"
Zhongli Wu said with some surprise. However, after the secret techniques used by the Church, unless she received a major stimulus, it would be almost impossible for Tang Ya to recover her former sanity.
"Disciple, have you ever seen Yan Shaozhe, the Dean of the Martial Soul Department at Shrek Academy?"
Suddenly, Zhongli Wu seemed to think of something, his brows slightly furrowing.
"I've seen photos, but never met him in person. What about Yan Shaozhe?"
Jiang Jue was momentarily stunned, a trace of surprise appearing in his eyes. Could it be that his master had discovered something?
"Don't you feel that he looks somewhat similar to me?"
Jiang Jue's mouth twitched. He thought to himself:
"How could you not look alike? You both have the same bloodline flowing in your bodies."
Of course, Jiang Jue would never say that aloud. It wasn't the right time yet. If Long Xiaoyao were to learn about this matter, there was no telling what unexpected actions he might take.
"Master, Yan Shaozhe's martial soul is the Bright Phoenix. Besides, how could he possibly be compared with you?"
Jiang Jue smiled slightly, trying to dispel Zhongli Wu's thoughts.
"That's true."
Zhongli Wu nodded slightly, the corner of his mouth lifting.
"If Master has no other matters, I'll take my leave first."
"Very well. Remember to seriously consider my suggestion. Both of the Holy Maidens of our Sacred Church are quite good."
Hearing this, Jiang Jue calmly walked out of the hall.
"Now that I have authority, it's a good opportunity to replenish some rare metals."
After leaving the hall, Jiang Jue pondered silently. Wang Gengyin was constantly trying to manufacture battle armor, and the required amount of rare metals was far from small.
After such a long time without replenishment, the Soul-Refining Banner was nearly depleted. This trip to the Church's treasury would allow him to restock—and perhaps also see if there were any treasures suitable for himself.
Outside the Holy Spirit Church Treasury
Jiang Jue looked at the two eight-ring Soul Douluo guarding both sides. After he took out his Holy Son token, the two Soul Douluo bowed respectfully and spoke in unison:
"Greetings, Holy Son."
"Please enter."
One of the older Soul Douluo opened the treasury door and led Jiang Jue inside, while the other continued standing guard outside.
"Holy Son, what treasure would you like to take? I can fetch it for you."
A glimmer of shrewdness flashed in the Soul Douluo's eyes. With Zhongli Wu's orders already issued, they clearly knew whose favor they should curry.
Jiang Jue swept his gaze across the treasury. The treasures inside were dazzling, each emitting faint glows. The treasury had three floors, and the items were even sorted into different sections by type.
The entire treasury was extremely spacious. The treasures here could be said to represent forty percent of the Holy Spirit Church's foundation.
If a soul master with the Seven Treasures Glazed Tower martial soul came here, their cultivation speed would surely soar dramatically.
Back when Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao died, Zhongli Wu had intended to use these treasures to rebuild the Church's power—but in the end, Huo Yuhao intercepted them.
"Follow this list and bring me everything on it."
Jiang Jue withdrew his gaze. A flash of white light appeared in his hand, revealing a white checklist. The Soul Douluo took it and quickly headed to the rare metals section to begin gathering the items.
Meanwhile, Jiang Jue released his spiritual power and slowly walked forward, constantly scanning the treasures on both sides to see if there was anything useful to him.
Before he truly became powerful, he naturally needed to increase his safety as much as possible—especially considering what he planned to do next.
After passing the soul tool section, Jiang Jue arrived at the soul bone section.
There were three large display cabinets here, each protected by crystal covers. At a glance, there were at least a hundred soul bones.
Most of them were thousand-year and ten-thousand-year soul bones, with ten-thousand-year ones being the most common. Hundred-year soul bones were almost nonexistent.
Jiang Jue carefully examined them, but his brows gradually furrowed.
Although the quality and age of these soul bones were quite good, absorbing them would undoubtedly lower his potential ceiling.
Even the final seven hundred-thousand-year soul bones failed to meet his expectations.
"Hm?"
Just as Jiang Jue was about to leave, a dark-purple dragon claw caught his attention.
The claw emitted a purple glow, with mysterious light flowing across its surface. Its sharpness was obvious even through the barrier, and the crystal cover protecting it was several layers thicker than the others.
The moment Jiang Jue's spiritual power scanned toward it—before even touching the claw—just as it passed through the crystal layer, it was instantly erased by the surrounding purple light without any apparent reason.
One had to know that Jiang Jue's spiritual power had already reached the "tangible yet formless" realm, and he even possessed Life Gold—yet it was still effortlessly destroyed.
"Destruction attribute!"
Jiang Jue was startled. His figure flashed as he moved directly in front of the dragon claw.
Even through the crystal cover—
"It's actually a left-hand external soul bone, and no one has taken it? It's still here?!"
Among all attributes, Destruction belonged to the very top tier. In terms of destructive power, only the Annihilation attribute could rival it.
There were even rumors that Life and Destruction were the attributes of creation itself.
Jiang Jue condensed his spiritual power and continued probing inside. Although the dragon claw emitted an extremely strong destruction aura, under Jiang Jue's continuous stream of spiritual power, he was still able to penetrate deeper.
"Hm? Why can't I determine the soul bone's age?"
As his spiritual power scanned the surface of the dragon claw, Jiang Jue frowned slightly. He then attempted to probe deeper into the soul bone—but in an instant, his spiritual power was destroyed by the terrifying destruction aura contained within.
"Divinity? How could something like this exist in the treasury? Did this drop from a divine beast after its death?"
Jiang Jue's eyes lit up, his face filled with surprise.
At that moment, the Soul Douluo had already finished packing the rare metals and returned to Jiang Jue with a storage ring.
"Young Master, these are the rare metals you requested. I've packed them all for you—and added a little extra of each."
The Soul Douluo said somewhat ingratiatingly.
"Very good. Do you know why this soul bone is still here?"
After taking the storage ring, Jiang Jue pointed at the dragon claw in front of him and asked.
"That soul bone… it's not that no one has tried taking it. But in the end, they all returned it."
"Because no one can absorb it. Even Title Douluo-level elders can't absorb it—not only that, they're even backlashed by it. Over time, it was simply left here."
The Soul Douluo's expression was somewhat complicated as he spoke truthfully.
Jiang Jue nodded slightly and then asked:
"Do you know where this soul bone originally came from?"
The Soul Douluo chuckled, seemingly recalling something.
"This soul bone was 'borrowed' by our Holy Spirit Church from the Sun Moon Empire's imperial treasury back when the imperial succession struggle was happening."
Oh. Another zero-cost purchase.
(End of Chapter)