Chapter 410: Return Again

Wang Yu's thoughts raced rapidly, a flicker of heat stirring in his heart.

Whether the Yin Soul Banner or the White Bone Demon Banner wishes to ascend, one method is to slowly nurture it with vast quantities of pure yin energy; but if relying solely on this method, the time and yin energy required would be so immense that even a demonic Foundation Establishment cultivator could spend a lifetime without ever seeing success.

The other method is to first cultivate the banner's core spirit creature to ascend, then use a high-grade spirit creature to drive the artifact's advancement—so long as there are enough spirit creatures to devour, either the Yin Soul Banner or the White Bone Demon Banner can ascend rapidly, with an extremely high upper limit.

But in this world of Blue Star, where even yin energy is absent, whether this method remains viable, Wang Yu himself was not entirely sure.

"Forget it, let's first confirm the matter of the Soul-Iron." Wang Yu finally murmured, flicked a hand seal, and shot several spells from a single finger toward the black rod, faintly forming a white spiritual pattern that vanished in a flash, sinking into the rod.

The once pitch-black rod instantly regained its silver-white hue, temporarily sealed by his spell to prevent its aura from leaking and agitating the yin spirits within the bone banner.

Then, he tapped his brow, and a silver light surged forth—his hand and the bone banner before him both flickered and vanished.

Wang Yu then went to his bedroom and went to sleep.

Since the slaughterhouse had trouble at night, as the official heir, it was only natural for him to visit the slaughterhouse tomorrow to show concern.

…

The next day at noon, Wang Yu drove a gray sedan into the slaughterhouse.

This nearly new car, bought secondhand a year ago by Magellan, had normally been parked in the garage behind the house and was now, nominally, under Wang Yu's use.

Alice had already been waiting there; as soon as Wang Yu stepped out, she hurried over and said:

"Mr. Dai Sen, don't worry—the assembly line has been repaired, the backup stunner has been reinstalled, and we're currently testing its operation."

"Take me to the assembly line. I want to see it in action. Also, what did the police say about last night's incident?" Wang Yu touched his reddish-yellow hair and asked seriously.

"Hmph, everyone knows what the police in Pengjie City are like—they sent two men to glance at the factory, took a few photos, declared it a theft, demanded a bribe, and left without doing anything else. If you really want to solve the case, you'd be better off hiring the local gang." Alice snorted dismissively.

"Oh, so the gang sent people over too?" Wang Yu paused slightly upon hearing this.

"Not at all. Although the factory pays a large sum to the nearby gangs every year, actually asking them for help would require another hefty payment, and even then, there's no guarantee they'd find the culprit—it's not worth it."

"But as you instructed last night, I've already sent people to buy wolfhounds and hired two extra guards for the factory tonight," Alice said efficiently.

"Fine, let's leave it at that," Wang Yu nodded, not truly giving these matters any real thought.

His entire focus was now on the slaughter assembly line.

Yesterday, he had used his Spirit-Viewing Technique to observe the line's operation and confirmed that when the pigs collapsed, soul-essences did indeed emerge.

Now that the new stunner had been installed, he naturally needed to confirm once again that the formation of Soul-Iron was not accidental, but reproducible.

Alice naturally had no idea what Wang Yu was thinking; as she walked beside him toward the slaughterhouse, she gave him a detailed account of last night's events.

Moments later, Wang Yu reappeared at the entrance to the assembly line, where over a hundred plump, big-eared spotted pigs were being driven onto the line.

Wang Yu's gaze immediately fixed on the newly installed stunner: each fallen pig emitted thin streams of black vapor, as if pulled by an invisible force, rushing swiftly toward the front ends of the stunners on either side.

Amid flashes of electricity, some black vapors pierced through the current and sank into the stunner's tip, while others were shredded and dissipated by the lightning.

Wang Yu's expression grew thoughtful.

In a sense, lightning was indeed the nemesis of souls—but if a soul could withstand the lightning's force without immediately dispersing, it indicated that soul was stronger than others, and thus more likely to form Soul-Iron upon absorption.

In this brief observation, every pig carcass emitted black vapor, but fewer than one in ten managed to penetrate the stunner; even among those that entered, only a small fraction would ultimately fuse with the stunner.

Yesterday, though he had seen black vapor emerging from the pigs, those souls could not penetrate the already-formed Soul-Iron stunner and were ultimately destroyed by the subsequent electricity.

It seems this ten-thousand-soul-grade Soul-Iron does have a definite upper limit on the souls it can absorb and integrate.

Of course, the newly installed stunner would require considerable time before it could form Soul-Iron again.

As Wang Yu pondered this, he suddenly turned to Alice beside him and asked:

"Alice, how many pigs does our factory slaughter each year?"

"Our factory is small—only one assembly line, and we don't slaughter pigs every day. Annually, it's roughly a hundred thousand, though the exact number depends on how much pork Pengjie City demands," Alice blinked and replied smoothly.

"Oh, with so many pigs and such frequent use of these stunners, they must have a limited lifespan. Where do you dispose of the old stunner heads?"

"Mr. Dai Sen, for safety, stunner heads are replaced every few years. The old ones are naturally thrown out as trash," Alice replied, slightly surprised but still seriously.

"Thrown out as trash—meaning they're sent to the scrap metal recycling station?" Wang Yu frowned and asked again.

"Yes, exactly. Do you have another thought?" Alice asked, puzzled.

"No, this is fine. Safety in the slaughterhouse must be taken seriously—I don't want to wake up tomorrow to find the entire facility burned down." Wang Yu smiled slightly.

"That won't happen. Our equipment is regularly maintained by professionals," Alice replied without hesitation.

"Alice, I have two more questions: Do you know which hospital in Pengjie City has the most deceased patients? And where is the largest cemetery in Pengjie City?" Wang Yu nodded, then suddenly asked two very strange questions.

"Hospital? Cemetery?" Alice froze, startled.

This factory heir, with his unconventional appearance, had never impressed her much—and now, asking such odd questions, only deepened her suspicion.