Sometimes, just getting things off your chest is enough. After this exchange, the two went from mere acquaintances to friends. What kind of friends exactly? That was hard to define.
But it seemed like Ma Xiaotao had opened up completely. Out of nowhere, she began sharing parts of her daily life with Zhou Sichen.
For instance, she explained how ever since her Martial Soul awakened, she had been constantly tormented by the Evil Fire. It was more manageable when she was younger—there were various ways to suppress it and ease the pain.
However, after breaking through Rank 30, most of those suppression methods lost their effectiveness. Now, with Zhou Sichen's Ultimate Ice, it felt to her like a savior sent from the heavens.
Ma Xiaotao also marveled at Zhou Sichen's strength. Despite being under Rank 40, he had already been strong enough to defeat her.
And now that he had reached Rank 40, and all three of his contracted soul beasts had evolved to the ten-thousand-year level, his strength was surely on an entirely new level—something terrifying to even imagine.
Fortunately, Ma Xiaotao didn't yet know about Zhou Sichen's victory over Han Ruoruo earlier that day—otherwise, she would have been even more shocked and excited.
Zhou Sichen didn't hide anything from her either. He patiently explained the unique nature of his Martial Soul—the Contract Book—helping her clearly understand the gap between their abilities...
The two of them talked back and forth , and before they knew it, the sun had already begun to set.
Noticing the time, Ma Xiaotao said sheepishly, "Thanks for today. I really enjoyed talking with you. If you ever need anything, feel free to come find me."
Zhou Sichen smiled faintly. "I enjoyed it too. You're not at all like how others describe you—as some kind of fire-obsessed maniac. You're actually really captivating when you're calm and just chatting."
"There's no need to care so much about what others think. Being yourself is perfectly fine."
Hearing his gentle words, Ma Xiaotao felt her cheeks grow inexplicably warm. She waved her hand and said, "Thanks again, Zhou Sichen. I'm heading back."
With that, she ran off like the wind—so quickly that even she didn't notice the bright smile on her face. If anyone had seen it, they might have thought the so-called 'Flame Demon' had been replaced by someone else entirely!
After Ma Xiaotao left, Zhou Sichen returned to his villa, took a hot bath, and used the linked soul tool ordering system to place a food order (this era didn't yet have proper soul communication devices—just something similar to a soul-powered loudspeaker system).
After ordering a red-tier delicacy, he headed straight to his secret chamber.
Inner court students rarely spent time eating at the cafeteria. Most preferred to have food delivered directly to their villas.
Today, Duogu Xianmeng had gone into seclusion to attempt her breakthrough to Rank 50, and Zhou Sichen had his own matters to attend to, so he simply ordered in.
Although it had only been a few days since arriving at Shrek Academy, a lot had happened—enough that he hadn't found time to sit down and truly focus on soul tool crafting.
Now inside the chamber, Zhou Sichen brought out all of his soul tool crafting equipment.
The most important material among them was nearly a third of Tianmeng's Remnant Essence—a rare resource he had spent nearly a month refining during his journey with Beibei and the others.
Tianmeng's Remnant Essence was the pure crystallization of his million years of cultivation. Even without adding any other materials, it was already a top-tier treasure.
In the original work, Tianmeng used this very Remnant Essence to subdue the Ice Emperor, who had nearly 400,000 years of cultivation.
And how powerful was the Ice Emperor? She could rival at least a Rank 97 Super Douluo.
That alone showed just how terrifying Tianmeng's Remnant Essence was.
Zhou Sichen's current goal was to craft his very first Core Soul Tool using this Remnant Essence.
The design for this soul tool was inspired by some creative ideas from his original world—like transforming the essence into a nano-core, or something with a liquid, symbiotic form akin to Venom that could change shape at will.
Over the years, Zhou Sichen had gathered a significant amount of research for this project. However, soul tool technology in the Three Kingdoms of the original Douluo Continent was still limited. Even with his imagination, turning his ideas into reality wasn't quite feasible yet.
But Zhou Sichen had no plans to give up. If he did, he wouldn't have bothered studying and practicing soul tool crafting himself—he could've just had others make them for him.
Now a Rank 4 Soul Engineer, and having fused his first soul ring—Tianmeng's ring—into his Martial Soul, Zhou Sichen's spiritual power and mastery of core array inscription had undergone a qualitative leap.
Though it had only been two months since becoming a Rank 4 Soul Engineer, he had already reached the peak of that level.
The Rank 5 core arrays he once only memorized now felt incredibly clear to him, as if he could inscribe them at any moment. He even felt capable of attempting Rank 6 core arrays.
Of course, that was only a feeling.
He had never actually inscribed a Rank 5 core array before.
And so, his next step was to try exactly that—inscribing a Rank 5 core array. If he succeeded, he would immediately qualify as a Rank 5 Soul Engineer.
Naturally, Zhou Sichen wouldn't risk using Tianmeng's Remnant Essence for the test.
He brought it out only to inscribe a peak Rank 4 core array on it first.
Once he became proficient in Rank 5 arrays, he would then upgrade the Remnant Essence accordingly.
Every array he chose for the Remnant Essence had been carefully selected—meant to evolve as his Soul Engineer rank increased, allowing the soul tool to grow alongside him.
That way, his first Core Soul Tool would never become obsolete, no matter how powerful he became.
With preparations complete, Zhou Sichen picked up his personal engraving knife.
An engraving knife is a soul engineer's essential tool—used to inscribe core formations.
Both ends of the blade served different functions depending on the array being crafted.
No soul engineer could work without one. A quality knife could drastically increase the success rate of core array inscription and even boost the power of the resulting soul tool.
Throughout history, soul engineers of the Douluo Continent compiled a ranked list of the most famous engraving knives—known as the Ranking Knives List.
This list recorded the top 100 engraving knives—each one a priceless treasure, highly coveted by powerful soul engineers.
A good engraving knife could greatly enhance a soul engineer's capabilities.
In fact, to a soul engineer, a Ranking Knife could be as valuable as a soul bone!
Even in the entire Shrek Academy, there were only two Ranking Knives—held by Qian Duoduo and Xian Lin'er.
Zhou Sichen's own engraving knife wasn't on the list, but it was a specially selected personal tool that had accompanied him for six years.
Holding the knife with his fair hand, Zhou Sichen calmed his mind and released his Martial Soul. His platinum-colored first soul ring lit up, activating the Spiritual Detection ability.
This skill was invaluable for crafting soul tools. With it, Zhou Sichen's accuracy could reach an astonishing 99.9%!
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