"It has indeed been a long time." Fan Yu sighed lightly with a touch of emotion.
Back during his trip to the Heavenly Soul Empire, he had met He Caitou. Even to this day, He Caitou and Huo Yuhao remained his two most outstanding disciples.
Lin Jiayi glanced between Fan Yu and Lin Xiao, his expression changing slightly. "You two knew each other before?"
"Mm, I once had a brief meeting with Teacher Fan Yu." Lin Xiao nodded. "By the way, Teacher Fan Yu, when I came in earlier, I saw some students from your academy outside looking for you. They seemed quite anxious."
Fan Yu's expression shifted slightly. "Then I'll go take a look."
Seeing Fan Yu hurry off, Lin Jiayi took two steps forward. "I'll go with you. If there's anything, I can help resolve it too."
Lin Jiayi left together with Fan Yu. Lin Xiao withdrew his gaze and swept his eyes once more over the surrounding experiment tables.
His current cultivation had now surpassed eight rings; he had officially entered the Soul Douluo realm. Although the previous seventh-level soul tools could still be used normally, their power was far inferior compared to soul skills and could no longer be relied upon against powerful enemies.
However, upgrading those aerial array cannons to eighth-level soul tools was no easy task.
Just like soul masters, the higher a soul engineer's level, the more difficult it becomes to advance further. There were countless soul engineers whose cultivation reached eight rings yet remained unable to raise their soul engineer rank.
After the battle with the Grand Elder, Lin Xiao had spent an entire year in deep contemplation. During that time, through the process of condensing his soul core, he had sensed and gained a faint understanding of a trace of spatial power.
Although he had only just come into contact with it, having this starting point allowed him to apply spatial power in more areas going forward.
Moreover, during the fight with the Grand Elder, Lin Xiao had gradually realized that relying on only one type of soul tool made his attack methods far too monotonous.
The strength of soul tools lies not only in firepower, but also in compensating for one's own weaknesses and amplifying one's martial soul. Previously, his soul engineer level had been low, and he hadn't had time to research many other kinds of soul tools.
But now, with his current level, he was fully qualified to step into the domain of another type of soul tool.
Slowly walking past the experiment tables, the other soul engineers showed no particular wariness toward Lin Xiao.
As Lin Xiao observed the soul guidance arrays taking shape in their hands, ideas continuously surged in his mind.
As expected of the place that gathered the most talented soul engineers of the entire Sun Moon Empire, Illustrious Virtue Hall never lacked all kinds of wild and imaginative ideas or the unique secret techniques belonging to individual soul engineers.
Although merely observing couldn't allow him to fully comprehend the other soul engineers' concepts, it nevertheless gave Lin Xiao a great deal of inspiration.
He had originally entered the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy only to conceal his identity as an evil soul master, but at this point, Lin Xiao had to admit that this place had provided him with considerable help.
Returning to his own experiment table, Lin Xiao buried himself once more in the research of soul guidance arrays. The daytime quickly passed.
As night fell, Lin Xiao had changed into different attire and appeared outside the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.
Not long after, two more figures sneakily showed up at the academy gate.
"Little junior brother, since Teacher Fan Yu has already notified the academy, shouldn't we wait for people from the academy to arrive before investigating?"
Huo Yuhao paused upon hearing this, but still shook his head. "Brother He, when I saw that Death God Messenger today, my heart was in turmoil, and I didn't think some things through clearly.
But afterward, I thought about it carefully. Investigating now won't put us in danger. As exchange students from Shrek Academy, it's normal for us to be curious about Mingdu. Those evil soul masters won't expect that we're investigating them."
"And Brother He, you also know my martial soul—even within the academy, no one is more suited than me to carry out this kind of investigation task."
"Alright." He Caitou looked at Huo Yuhao and finally nodded. "I'll go with you. If anything dangerous happens, I'll do my utmost to protect you."
He Caitou, no longer tried to dissuade him. The two quickly followed the route Huo Yuhao had tracked the Death God Messenger along during the day and arrived in front of a certain building.
"Brother He, have you been here before?"
Just standing in front of the building, Huo Yuhao was already faintly frowning. Under his spiritual detection, even without deliberately probing, he could sense an uncomfortable aura emanating from within.
"No." He Caitou looked at the crowds coming and going outside the building and shook his head. "In my memory, this area was originally just a simple residential district. It should have changed to look like this only recently."
"At the very least, when I was little, this place wasn't this lively." He Caitou turned his head as he spoke. "Little junior brother, are we going in?"
"Mm, but we need to make some preparations first."
Huo Yuhao took out two metal masks and handed one to He Caitou. "Although we probably won't attract the evil soul masters' attention this time, it's still best to disguise ourselves a little."
"After we go in, let's not use our usual names and try to avoid our normal ways of addressing each other. How about this, I'll be Tang Wu, Brother He will be Tang Si, I'll call you Fourth Brother, and you call me Fifth Brother."
"Alright." He Caitou nodded.
He and Huo Yuhao had both undergone Shrek Academy's ultimate individual soldier training. In Shrek Academy's plan, Huo Yuhao was the main focus between the two of them, so naturally, he had no objections at this moment.
"Phew, let's go."
Feeling the coldness of the mask against his face, Huo Yuhao let out a light breath and stepped into the building before him.
The instant they passed through the entrance, a loud cheer suddenly rose from below the ground. The temperature inside was noticeably higher than outside; breathing the scorching air actually caused his body to heat a few degrees on its own.
"Welcome, sirs. Are you here to participate in the matches or to watch?"
A waiter had already come forward to greet them. He Caitou slightly turned his head toward Huo Yuhao.
"We're here to watch the matches," Huo Yuhao said, deliberately lowering his voice.
"Very well. Please follow me to purchase tickets." The waiter's voice grew even sweeter. "I see the two of you seem unfamiliar. Could this be your first time visiting us?"
"Would the two of you like to place bets on any of the contestants? If so, I can introduce them to you."
"No need for now. We'll take a look first before deciding."
"Very well." The smile on the waiter's face did not diminish. "I'm sure you'll love it here. I hope the two of you have a pleasant night."
Among the people who came here, others didn't wish to show their true faces, so Huo Yuhao and He Caitou's attire didn't stand out too much.
After buying the tickets and descending the stairs, the scene before him caused Huo Yuhao's footsteps to suddenly freeze.
"What's wrong, little… Fifth brother?"
He Caitou walked forward a step in slight confusion, but when he turned the corner of the staircase, he too was stunned.
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