Chapter 63: Soul Spirit

That evening, Huo Yutong finished today's homework, set out the tea set, and prepared to welcome Tang Wulin's arrival.

Today it was again her turn to have a night chat in her room.

At that moment, an elderly voice sounded in her mind.

"Yutong, do you have time now?"

Huo Yutong froze for a moment, then quickly reacted.

"Old Ilex, has the adjustment of the Sea of Spirit been completed?"

Since Ilex said he would adjust her Sea of Spirit, he had not been in touch.

After several days, Ilex finally contacted her again.

Ilex said:

"Not yet, but it's almost done; I just suddenly thought of something."

"What?"

"Your friend named Tang Wulin, his first soul ring is strange."

"Do you mean his first soul ring of the Blue Silver Emperor?"

"Yes."

Huo Yutong's expression was somewhat confused.

"Isn't Wulin's first soul ring just an ordinary ten-year soul ring?"

She did not feel that his soul ring had anything special.

"It is indeed a ten-year soul ring, no mistake." Ilex did not deny, he continued: "Although it is a ten-year soul ring, its nature is very similar to your million-year soul ring."

"???"

Huo Yutong was dazed.

"Besides the color, what else is the same between ten-year and million-year soul rings?" Ilex explained: "These past few days, in my spare time, I borrowed your eyes to observe this world. According to my observation, soul rings of soul masters generally do not contain souls, or perhaps only a tiny amount of soul remnants exist. I guess the souls of these soul beasts dissipate when they become soul rings, but there are two exceptions."

Upon hearing this, Huo Yutong understood.

"Are you referring to me and Wulin?"

"Exactly, more precisely, it's your two soul rings."

Ilex said:

"It's normal for your soul ring to contain a complete soul, after all the Ice Silkworm's soul resides within it; but for Tang Wulin's soul ring to also have a complete soul is abnormal, although the soul fluctuation is very weak, it is clearly not an ordinary soul ring."

Huo Yutong's expression calmed down.

"What do you mean?"

"Go ask him the reason; I am very curious about this."

"Please forgive my refusal." Huo Yutong said firmly: "Since Wulin did not voluntarily tell me, regardless of the reason, this shows he does not want me to know this matter, so I should not ask him."

Huo Yutong deeply knew that everyone has their own secrets, just as she had not told him about the Ice Silkworm Tianmeng and Ilex, it is natural for Tang Wulin to have his own secrets.

She could wait for Wulin to one day voluntarily tell her the truth, but she does not intend to ask proactively.

Arbitrarily probing into others' secrets is a very impolite act.

Ilex was not at all surprised by Huo Yutong's answer, and he chuckled lightly.

"I knew you would say that; what if I told you I have a method to increase his soul ring's year?"

"Really?!"

Huo Yutong's face changed instantly.

When she first entered the school, she had been discriminated against by many students because of her soul ring's color; she deeply knew how unpopular a white soul ring is.

Now hearing that she could help Tang Wulin increase his soul ring's year, she felt her heartbeat unconsciously quicken.

Ilex said noncommittally: "I can only say there is this possibility, after all I still do not understand why his soul ring is so strange; but since the Ice Silkworm can rely on its origin to help you increase the year of your subsequent soul rings, in my estimation, helping him increase his soul ring's year should not be difficult."

"..."

Huo Yutong fell silent.

She instantly found herself in a dilemma.

Rashly asking Wulin about this might provoke his resentment, yet she truly could not give up the possibility of helping him increase his soul ring's year.

After hesitating for two minutes, she clenched her fists tightly, her eyes becoming resolute.

She had made up her mind.

Even if Wulin ends up disliking her, she must get the facts out.

If it truly could advance his soul ring's year, she herself would not care.

Thus she closed her eyes, beginning to think about how to ask him.

She needed to think of suitable words. About five minutes later, Tang Wulin arrived at her room.

Upon entering the room, he was startled by Huo Yutong's worried expression.

"Yutong, what happened?"

Huo Yutong opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and asked straight to the point:

"Wulin, is your first soul ring different from ours in some way?"

Tang Wulin blinked, then nodded in acknowledgment.

"Yeah, how did you discover it?"

Huo Yutong was stunned.

"You don't intend to hide it?"

She had prepared to press further, but she did not expect Tang Wulin to have no intention of concealing it.

Tang Wulin said dejectedly:

I never planned to hide anything from you—I even told you about my coming back from the future—so what's there to hide?

""

Huo Yutong felt her face start to heat up.

Seeing Tang Wulin's candid expression, she now felt that her earlier hesitation was just foolish.

She sighed and said:

My third martial soul isn't a necromancer, is it? When our martial souls fused, I used my third martial soul to sense that your first soul ring seems to contain a soul, so I guessed it differs from the other soul rings.

So that's how it is—I didn't expect your third martial soul, Yutong, to have such a clever use.

Tang Wulin voiced his admiration candidly.

This made Huo Yutong even more embarrassed, and she asked:

So can you tell me the truth about your soul ring?

Of course.

Tang Wulin nodded lightly and said:

The true form of my soul ring is something called a soul spirit, and soul spirit technology, after ten thousand years, has thoroughly benefited the entire continent—it...

Then he told Huo Yutong everything he knew about soul spirits.

He really wasn't deliberately keeping this from Huo Yutong; he simply hadn't told her because she hadn't asked.

After listening to Tang Wulin's explanation, Huo Yutong couldn't come to her senses for a long time.

What he said was utterly inconceivable to her—there actually exists a technology in this world that can replace soul rings, and the person called Huo Yuhao is absolutely an unimaginable genius.

It's a pity that, although her name is very similar to his, she doesn't know him at all—she's never even heard of him—which makes her feel a little regretful.

In her Sea of Spirit, Ilex wore a thoughtful expression.

He pondered for a moment, then said in astonishment: 'Yutong, the genius called Huo Yuhao could possibly be your child.'

Pfft—!

Huo Yutong spat out the tea in her mouth.

Tang Wulin jumped in fright.

'Yutong, what's wrong?!'

"Cough cough cough, I'm fine." Huo Yutong raised a hand to soothe him, somewhat annoyed, and shouted in her Sea of Spirit: 'Elder Ilex, what are you saying?!'

Ilex said calmly: 'Based on the current conditions, I'm analyzing what I've heard; this thing called a soul spirit is essentially similar to the intelligent soul ring developed by Da Chongzi, and it's very likely developed based on your intelligent soul ring as a foundation. Moreover, someone who knows so much about your intelligent soul ring and whose name is so similar to yours is very likely your future child, isn't it?'

".."

Huo Yutong was speechless.

After hearing him say that, it actually seemed quite reasonable.

"Well, soul spirits..." Ilex let out a light chuckle, 'This idea is indeed interesting, Yutong; perhaps I can research ahead of time the system developed by your future child.'

I already said he might not be my child!

Faced with Huo Yutong's protest, Ilex merely gave a hehe laugh and paid no heed.

He now pays more attention to this brand-new system, which has reignited his passion after a long absence.

As long as Tang Wulin cooperates in the research, give him a year, and he's confident he can bring the soul spirit system forward to appear on the Douluo Continent ahead of time.

By the way, with Wulin present, Ilex's soul spirit research would start much earlier than in the original work and go much more smoothly.

By the way, I'll try to squeeze out another chapter tonight.

(End of chapter)