Chapter 171

With Wang Hongchen's permission, the three people entered the secret room to look at these soul guide books and soul tools.

Lan Fuzi stood at Huo Yuhao's side, her gaze involuntarily drawn to those precise soul tools.

She had previously glimpsed a corner of the Spirit Pagoda's foundation, even seen two gods, and the foundation now revealed by Mingde Hall also made her secretly alarmed.

There are four such powers in total in the Federation. This doesn't even count the dark departments, the various legions — does the Holy Spirit Cult really have a chance of winning?

She didn't care much about the Holy Spirit Cult's outcome, but her mother's side was different.

"The key is these two's true stance."

Lan Fuzi secretly observed Huo Yuhao and Gu Yue Na.

Two gods, enough to disrupt the entire situation — if they make a move against her mother, what should she do?

All other problems can be ignored, only this point cannot.

Unlike Lan Fuzi who was distracted thinking, Huo Yuhao and Gu Yue Na were both immersed in the sea of books.

If Lan Fuzi was arranged to come here, then Gu Yue Na came of her own decision.

In the Ice Empress's words: this Soul Beast Sovereign has been infected by Huo Yuhao, quite a few habits are aligning toward him, she indeed came to learn.

After looking around the outer perimeter, Huo Yuhao walked toward the depths, quietly using spiritual power, beginning to search for the books he needed.

"Principles and Advanced Applications of Soul Guide Core Arrays"

"Theory and Practice of Space Folding Soul Tools"

"Soul Guide Mecha and Human Body Neural Connection Technology"

……

After roughly browsing the titles, Huo Yuhao thought of Na Na Li still waiting outside, borrowed some books, and along the way reminded Gu Yue Na and the other person.

"Hall Master, I want to borrow these books."

"Allowed."

Wang Hongchen looked at the books Huo Yuhao's three people placed on the table, nodded, and took out three passes.

"Take them, I've recorded both here and the permissions to Mingde Hall into them. If you want to space transmit to Mingde Hall, or come here to find books, just use them directly."

Huo Yuhao received that permission card flashing with faint light, a warm touch transmitted from his fingertips. Complex soul guide patterns flowed on its surface, vaguely able to sense fluctuations of spatial power.

"Many thanks, Hall Master."

Huo Yuhao thanked, bid farewell, and left.

Just as he was about to walk out the room door, Wang Hongchen said without any warning: "Yi said when he saw you, he thought of the Ling Bing Douluo, I now have the same feeling."

Huo Yuhao's footsteps imperceptibly paused for a moment. He turned his head sideways, his peripheral vision catching Wang Hongchen lowering his head to organize books, the cold light reflected by the lenses covering his eyes.

"Elder jokes."

Lightly replying a sentence, Huo Yuhao led the way out the room door.

The door closing sound rang out, seeing the three people had already left the room. Wang Hongchen's heart began communicating with a consciousness.

"He did not deny his relationship with the Ling Bing Douluo."

"Maybe he's just used to being evaluated this way by others, didn't refute merely."

"Then Ancestor thinks I'm overthinking?"

Silence spread in the room. Lamplight cast mottled light and shadow on the floor. Those shadows suddenly began to eerily distort, as if stirred by some invisible force.

"……"

Along with the long silence, a huge shadow slowly emerged from behind Wang Hongchen.

At first, the shadow was merely a blurry mass, like mist scattered by wind, twisting and changing in the dim light. But soon, the shadow began to condense, outlines gradually becoming clear —

It was a colossal giant, a five-meter-tall body with imposing pressure like a mountain, dark golden metallic luster flowing on its carapace, as if cast from molten gold, sawtooth mandibles opening and closing emitting metal friction sounds.

Precisely the Red Dust Family's foundation, the hundred-thousand-year hereditary spirit soul — the Gold Devouring Ant Emperor!

"His talent on soul tools is indeed unbelievable."

The Gold Devouring Ant Emperor's tone was low, "In ten thousand years, besides that person, I haven't seen anyone who can compare with him in this aspect."

"As expected, you also think so."

Wang Hongchen laughed: "There's news that the Snow Empress accepted Huo Yuhao as a disciple, treating him quite specially. But the Snow Empress hasn't accepted disciples in the Spirit Pagoda for ten thousand years, this point is also puzzling."

"Humans with close private relations to the Snow Empress, only the Ling Bing Douluo and Second Generation Tower Master Su Tong, you therefore produced suspicion, not improper."

The Gold Devouring Ant Emperor pondered: "But besides that, what really made you produce suspicion is his martial soul and soul skills, right?"

"Spiritual Eyes and Spiritual Detection……"

Wang Hongchen's eyes flickered slightly, he nodded slightly, "After Yi told me information about his martial soul and soul skills, I connected the Spiritual Eyes with the Ling Bing title, after all you also told me the story of Xiao Hongchen's ancestor."

Most of the world believes the Ling Bing Douluo's 'Spirit' comes from the Spirit Pagoda's 'Spirit', is a kind of symbol. But some people have always harbored doubts.

The Ultimate Ice martial soul has no bonus for learning soul tools. The Spirit Pagoda's second generation Tower Master Su Tong didn't inherit the Ling Bing Douluo's essence in soul tool research.

Then how did the Ling Bing Douluo who specialized in Ultimate Ice martial soul achieve such accomplishments in both Soul Master and Soul Engineer cultivation simultaneously? Pure peerless talent, or another secret?

For example, the Ling Bing Douluo actually being twin martial souls or the like.

Hmm, this doubt originally came from Xiao Hongchen's ancestor.

Ling Bing, an ice player, actually achieved such accomplishments on soul tools, "barely" comparable to me, he definitely has a secret! — Xiao Hongchen

However, although Xiao Hongchen's ancestor's suspicion has some reason, it ultimately carries some "personal emotions", merely unverifiable speculation. (Xiao Hongchen: ……)

But just recently, Wang Hongchen saw a soul tool talent extraordinary and transcendent, Snow Empress accepting a disciple, martial soul Spiritual Eyes, really couldn't help thinking in this direction.

It can be said, these three pieces of information are all guiding Wang Hongchen to think in the direction of Huo Yuhao and the Ling Bing Douluo being related.

"If my guess is not bad, the Ling Bing Douluo's Spirit indeed comes from another martial soul, then Huo Yuhao is very likely the Ling Bing Douluo……"

The Gold Devouring Ant Emperor and Wang Hongchen simultaneously reached a conclusion: "……'s descendant!"

At most just a descendant, as for the other party being the Ling Bing Douluo himself?

How could it be possible!

As a Hereditary Spirit Soul that had been passed down for ten thousand years, the Devouring Gold Ant Emperor had seen the Ling Bing Douluo before; the person before it did not look like that, and its temperament was also very cold, its entire being exuding an unworldly aura, vastly different from Huo Yuhao.

Moreover, after the battle two years ago, some information about Huo Yuhao had been dug out; the Spatial Power he used came from his Second Martial Soul. In other words, his Second Martial Soul was of the Space Attribute; if he were the Ling Bing Douluo, then where did his Ultimate Ice go?

Could he be a Three-Life Martial Soul? Or had his Ultimate Ice evolved a Space Attribute?

Impossible, absolutely impossible.

Whichever the case, it collided with Douluo common sense.

Even if someone could explain these doubts, there were still other problems.

If Huo Yuhao were the Ling Bing Douluo, capable of surviving for ten thousand years, it would mean he succeeded in becoming a god ten thousand years ago; then how to explain the commotion of his failed ascension back then?

Could successful godhood still be a bad thing? Why pretend to have failed?

Pretending to have failed ascension for the Douluo Continent to see would only sadden those who remembered his kindness, gladden those who hated him, and serve no other purpose, right?

As for the Ling Bing Douluo truly failing ascension but not dying... he could just return to the Spirit Pagoda to recuperate and scheme for godhood again, why wait ten thousand years to return?

And how he lived to ten thousand years later was also a question.

In short, if Huo Yuhao truly were the Ling Bing Douluo, there were too many doubts; one person and one spirit soul indicated they could not figure it out.

"However, if Huo Yuhao truly is the Ling Bing Douluo's descendant, then there is a question that concerns me greatly — back then, who exactly was that person with? After all, there are no clear records of his marriage."

The Devouring Gold Ant Emperor expressed great interest in the Ling Bing Douluo's gossip, "Who do you think it is? I think those First Generation Members are highly likely."

Having lived long, this was its only hobby of gossip. After all, watching juniors tinker with Soul Tools every day was truly boring.

Hearing this, Wang Hongchen's eyelids twitched, he shook his head, "Better not speak recklessly; after all, it is merely our speculation, impossible to verify."

The Devouring Gold Ant Emperor, however, was in high spirits, its antennae trembling slightly:

"What of it? You humans gossip far more fiercely than us Soul Beasts; back then, both inside the Spirit Pagoda and in Mingde Hall there were people who discussed baseless things in their leisure, even compiling quite a lot of related history. Even in Mingde Hall's collection of books there are..."

Speaking halfway, seeming to realize it had let something slip, the Devouring Gold Ant Emperor simply returned into Wang Hongchen's body, saying no more.

"..."

At this, Wang Hongchen's mouth corner twitched, "Ancestor, what did your words just now mean?"

He seemed to have heard ominous news.

Ancestor, what are you saying? What books did you say are stored in the secret room?

Ancestor, hurry and answer, this is very important!

Wang Hongchen asked several times, finally obtaining the answer from the spirit soul's mouth.

"Records about the Ling Bing Douluo are too few, so someone specially sought out people and spirit souls who knew the Ling Bing Douluo, compiling and supplementing partial records and history. However, records passed through others' retellings... you should understand the result."

Wang Hongchen's brows furrowed slightly: "You mean those records... were embellished?"

Devouring Gold Ant Emperor: "More than just embellished? Some stories are absurd to the point that even the Ling Bing Douluo himself would freeze for three seconds if he heard them. For instance, some say he had a romance with that person in the Extreme North, and there are even more exaggerated ones saying he actually also had something with the one from the Star Dou Great Forest... cough, you understand.

After all, the Ling Bing Douluo reaching cooperation with the two Fierce Beast gathering grounds was too inconceivable, so to reasonably explain the reasons for the Ling Bing Douluo's various achievements, people found many arguments. As a result, many absurd speculations were born; some found relevant persons to verify and were recorded, some were not."

"..."

Wang Hongchen was silent for a moment, sighed, and rubbed his temples:

"Ancestor, you just said Mingde Hall's collection also has these? Could it be that Mingde Hall privately collected the Ling Bing Douluo's unofficial history?"

This is a bit excessive, right? If the Spirit Pagoda finds out, who knows what will happen.

The Devouring Gold Ant Emperor explained: "You are attached to appearances; in the absence of official history, unofficial history naturally becomes official history. And the matter of the Death God Envoy is all official history; what unofficial history appears absurd before it?"

Some official history is this absurd; who can confirm those less bizarre unofficial histories are fake?

Perhaps they are the truth?

Wang Hongchen: "..."

He actually had no words to reply.

Two generations of Shrek Academy's Seven Monsters were soloed by a Soul King Evil Soul Master, and that Evil Soul Master even escaped from a Super Douluo's hands... these are all true, what else is impossible?

"Furthermore, the reason Mingde Hall collected these materials is precisely because they are closely related to the history of Soul Tool development. As a key figure in the history of Soul Tool development, the Ling Bing Douluo's related records are naturally indispensable."

"Although part of the content is mixed with the subjective understanding of the recorders and retellers, most are presented in an obscure manner. Among successive Hall Masters, some also discovered these contents, but after consideration, they ultimately all chose to retain rather than purge them."

"Moreover, the compilation of the Ling Bing Douluo's history was led by the Spirit Pagoda Tower Master of that time; you need not worry so much."

As far as it knew, the Spirit Pagoda did it too, and it was the Ling Bing Douluo's Disciple — Su Tong who took the lead; there was fundamentally no need to worry.

Walking out the doorway, Gu Yue Na looked back at the lounge, transmitting: "Yuhao, he..."

"Nothing much, at most some guesses, but impossible to confirm."

Huo Yuhao transmitted a reply, looking towards Na Na Li waiting at the doorway.

The latter also smiled at them, "Thank you for your help last time; the agreed thanks and apology gifts, I have brought them."

Speaking here, she glanced at Lan Fuzi, seemingly considering whether to take out the items in front of the other party.

"Lan Fuzi is our companion, Your Excellency need not overthink." Huo Yuhao smiled.

Lan Fuzi looked at Huo Yuhao with momentary bewilderment.

A god saying she is a companion... terrifying.

Na Na Li nodded readily, a pained expression flashing across her face, taking out two boxes from her Storage Ring and handing them to Huo Yuhao and Gu Yue Na.

"These are two Ten Thousand Year Xing Ming Hai Ling Zhi, rare Heavenly Treasures that can raise Spiritual Power, as an apology gift to you."

If she had not already broken through to the Spiritual Domain Realm and had no use for such a spirit item, she truly would not be willing to take them out.

Heavenly Treasures that can raise Spiritual Power are extremely precious.

"Next is the thank-you gift; to obtain it, I expended considerable effort."

Na Na Li took out another narrow sandalwood box, solemnly handing it to Huo Yuhao, "This is a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone."

Huo Yuhao's movement paused, but he did not decline, accepting this gift.

Lan Fuzi: "..."

Sending a soul bone... it feels like it'd be better if she weren't here.

Gu Yue Na frowned slightly, asking doubtfully, "Isn't this too precious?"

The value of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone goes without saying; even if the Spirit Pagoda helped them catch that Evil Soul Master, they wouldn't go so far as to use a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone as a thank-you gift, right?

Na Na Li shook her head, "Not heavy. The Super Douluo you and the Snow Empress Pagoda Master helped me catch had a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone on him. Moreover, that Evil Soul Master told us a piece of important intelligence."

If not for that, she also couldn't have used a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone as a thank-you gift.

Hearing this, Gu Yue Na looked towards Huo Yuhao with some surprise.

An Evil Soul Master would confess secrets to the Dark Department? Didn't Yuhao say she was influenced by a curse technique, unable to speak important intelligence?

Thinking that the only person who had contact with the Evil Soul Master at the time was Huo Yuhao, Gu Yue Na withdrew her gaze thoughtfully.

Unless... the intelligence in Na Na Li's mouth was revealed to the Dark Department by Yuhao through the Evil Soul Master's mouth!

End of Chapter