After returning from the Icebound Forest, Shen Hanyu's life remained very peaceful and comfortable.
After Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er went back, they acted as if nothing had happened and did not tell Shui Ningbing about what had occurred during that time. Shen Hanyu wasn't particularly concerned about the process, but he was very satisfied with the outcome.
The other party was someone who could distinguish between what was important and what wasn't; this point earned Shen Hanyu's approval. At the very least, her mind was still functioning properly, which made her far more rational than the vast majority of people on the Douluo Continent.
As for their daily lives, things remained the same as before. From time to time, they would come over to Shen Hanyu's place with Shen Liuyu to hang out, and sometimes they would even stay the night directly.
After all, such a large house naturally had plenty of rooms; there were more than enough for each person to have their own.
Shui Ningbing also helplessly discovered that signs pointed to her two precious nieces already having been "arch-cabbaged," but with Shen Hanyu's outstanding qualities plainly visible, she had nothing to say about it. Her impression of Shen Hanyu was quite good, so she could only sigh repeatedly every day while looking at her desk piled high with documents.
She was truly very busy, especially during this period. Not only did she have to handle all the major and minor affairs of the academy, but she also had to prepare for the upcoming Spirit Master Tournament.
In the Dou Yi period, the Spirit Master Tournament was held once every five years, and there were at most two years left until the next one.
In these two years, she needed to do her utmost to train this generation's Skywater team, striving to achieve a good ranking in the tournament two years from now. The benefits to the academy would be enormous if they succeeded.
Once successful, the academy would not only gain a better reputation and attract more funding, but it might even be able to recruit other geniuses who came seeking the name.
After all, Skywater Academy's strict admission standards were well known, and the number of students enrolled each year was limited, sometimes even showing a downward trend.
Naturally, Shui Bing'er and the other girls, who had already been internally selected as members of the next-next Skywater team, also felt considerable pressure.
But this was a good thing. Sometimes, a person without any pressure wouldn't even realize how high their ceiling truly was. Of course, if you discovered that your floor was steadily dropping lower instead, then it was time to reflect on your own problems.
This generation's Skywater team still consisted of seven members: three agility-attack system, two control systems, one sensitivity-attack system, and one auxiliary system spirit master.
In two years, their ages would likely be between eighteen and twenty-five, and by then, their cultivations were estimated to all be above level thirty-five Spirit Elder. They still possessed considerable strength.
As for how many Spirit Ancestors might appear by then, no one could say for sure.
Shen Hanyu had also looked into this matter a bit, but he felt that, based on those few girls, even advancing to the finals would be difficult, let alone defeating the Wuhun Hall team that had remained undefeated for a thousand years.
Even setting aside the Wuhun Hall team, the Elephant Armor team, and the Star Luo team that had always competed for second place were both veteran strong teams, backed by massive empires; their strength couldn't be underestimated either.
As for whether the Four Elements team had any chance of reaching the finals and achieving victory, it was still possible. Over these thousands of years and countless tournaments, there had always been a few occasions where unexpected events occurred—no one could predict that.
......
Speaking of Shen Liuyu, after several consecutive instances of Shen Hanyu forcibly "enhancing" her, her innate talent now completely matched that of an innate full spirit power spirit master. Moreover, after Shen Hanyu settled permanently in Element City, her personality had also become more restrained, and she put increasingly more effort into cultivation, naturally, her strength improved quickly as well.
After absorbing her third spirit ring, her spirit power reached level thirty-two. In roughly another year, she would be able to break through to level thirty-five. At that time, absorbing the Earth Dragon Golden Melon immortal herb would not only cause her martial soul to undergo another major evolution, but her spirit power would likely directly break through to Spirit Ancestor. The time and effort saved could be used for other things—all in all, it was a good outcome.
As the greatest bug-level existence in this world at present, immortal herbs were sufficient to alter a large portion of history and even influence the development of the entire plot.
However, by now, immortal herbs no longer held much value for Shen Hanyu. As his strength gradually grew stronger, so did his ambitions. Now, only a very small number of things could still move his heart, for example, the second martial soul he was about to obtain.
Regarding this second martial soul, Shen Hanyu had pondered for a long time, and Tian Meng had also done considerable research on it.
Originally, it had wanted to make the Ice Emperor become Shen Hanyu's second martial soul, but Shen Hanyu needed a powerful martial soul capable of simultaneously bearing both ice and fire attributes, so the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion was naturally somewhat unsuitable.
But this did not affect his plan to have both the Snow Emperor and Ice Emperor become his wisdom spirit rings. Such top-tier spirit rings, if not kept for himself, were they to be left for that god who, ten thousand years later, would be incomparably glorious yet willingly act as a dog?
There was also the previous Silver Emperor Heavenly Falcon. Tian Meng and Shen Hanyu had both considered it, but in the end, they excluded it.
The specific reason was roughly that the Silver Emperor Heavenly Falcon's ice attribute was not weak, and it also carried some light attributes, but if it truly became a martial soul, it still fell short by quite a bit.
Shen Hanyu had also examined many spirit beasts and thought for a long time before finally coming up with an idea. Although it was somewhat risky, if successful, he would take another major step toward becoming a god; it was still very much worth trying.
However, before that, he still had plenty of time to consider other methods.
The reason humans must make choices is to select the option that best aligns with their interests while also balancing safety; only then can everything be worry-free.
......
During this period, Shen Hanyu met with Shui Ningbing twice more.
Once, she came to thank Shen Hanyu for taking Shui Bing'er and Shen Liuyu to hunt spirit rings; the other time, she simply came to Shen Hanyu's place to slack off.
Looking at the stunningly beautiful woman comfortably lying on a recliner in the courtyard, enjoying the fruits that Shen Liuyu usually ate, Shen Hanyu could only sigh helplessly. This place had practically become these women's territory; his presence as the owner was growing increasingly faint.
But there was nothing he could do about it. Due to personal feelings, he couldn't say much to any of them. In any case, it didn't affect his normal life, so he simply let it be.
Moreover, with these few girls here, his daily needs, clothing, food, and living had become much more convenient. Laundry and cleaning were handled by Shen Liuyu and Shui Yue'er, cooking was taken care of by Shui Bing'er, and he only needed to focus on daily cultivation and meditation, occasionally chatting with the girls.
Only then did Shui Ningbing have the opportunity to properly observe Shen Hanyu's usual character and conduct. Overall, she was quite satisfied.
Although there were aspects of this young man that indeed made him seem far from a "good person," he was nevertheless loyal and righteous, not the type to casually betray others. He belonged to the category of people worth deep friendship if one had the courage and capital; whatever was invested in him would always yield equivalent or even more valuable returns…