In a spiritual cultivation room at Shrek Academy, Xia Yi and Gu Yue sat cross-legged, facing each other.
As their spiritual powers were released, the two quickly entwined with each other's spiritual force.
Gu Yue's delicate face blushed slightly. The fusion of their spiritual powers could, in some sense, be seen as the merging of their souls.
Soul fusion, in many situations, is even more significant than the fusion of the physical body.
If one party harbored malicious intent, they could easily invade the other's spiritual world, spy on their secrets, or even control their spiritual world, subjugating or enslaving them.
Because of this, even couples rarely engage in this kind of cultivation.
However, Xia Yi and Gu Yue were not doing this for the first time. Although it was Gu Yue who suggested it, every time they did this, she always had the feeling that Xia Yi was prying into her entire being.
This feeling made even Gu Yue, the ruler of soul beasts, uncomfortable.
Yet, compared to the discomfort, Gu Yue felt a sense of pride. At least for now, her spiritual power was still far superior to Xia Yi's.
Only through such a fusion of spiritual powers could she feel that she was still Xia Yi's superior.
Gu Yue's spiritual force felt like a vast ocean to Xia Yi, no matter how hard he tried, it was difficult to escape from the ocean's grasp.
On the other hand, Xia Yi's spiritual force felt like a towering mountain to Gu Yue, no matter how turbulent the ocean became, it could never drown the mountain.
As their spiritual powers continued to be released and intertwined, both Xia Yi and Gu Yue could clearly sense that their spiritual power was steadily increasing and improving.
Especially in such a unique environment like the Shrek Academy's cultivation room, both of them felt their progress quite distinctly.
Such an environment where one could clearly sense the changes in their spiritual power was rare.
One must admit, Shrek Academy truly deserved the title of the world's number one academy.
Not to mention anything else, their cultivation environment alone was already among the best.
Take the cultivation rooms, for instance. The resources invested by the Spirit Pagoda into various cultivation rooms were astronomical, but compared to Shrek Academy's, they were still somewhat lacking.
After spending a night in the cultivation room, Xia Yi and Gu Yue could both feel that their spiritual powers had grown significantly.
Thanks to this increase, their mental states were excellent, and they looked vibrant and full of energy.
When they left the cultivation room, Gu Yue was still excited, holding onto Xia Yi's arm with joy, even a bit addicted to the feeling. "This feeling of being so refreshed is amazing. Should we come again tonight?"
"Sure!" Xia Yi replied with a smile. His forging ability had already reached the maximum limit his soul power could support, so there was no need to practice forging for the time being.
Improving their spiritual and soul powers was the top priority.
After they left, the staff in charge of the cultivation rooms arrived at the one where they had trained the previous night.
"Why is it that two soul masters at the third ring are consuming energy even more terrifyingly than soul emperors? Also, why was the mecha room affected too? The consumption is off the charts." The staff member was puzzled.
What they didn't know was that Xia Yi and Gu Yue's spiritual powers had already reached the later stage of the Spiritual Sea realm.
Not to mention soul emperors, even soul saints still had spiritual powers at the later stage of the Spiritual Sea realm.
In a spiritual cultivation room like this, Xia Yi and Gu Yue's consumption was no less than that of an ordinary soul emperor.
As for the mecha? That was even more extraordinary. If Xia Yi hadn't asked her to be careful, she would have likely drained all the energy from the room.
Xia Yi's mecha, at first glance, appeared to be a yellow mecha of about fifteen meters tall.
However, that was just the outer shell of the mecha.
In simple terms, this was a mecha that wore another mecha.
Inside, there was another mecha of only five meters tall, and that was the true mecha of Xia Yi.
Though it used to be purple, it could now be said to be a semi-red mecha.
Besides the core components made of Heavenly Forged Metal, similar to a red mecha, it had already merged with its owner's soul.
That's right, it was the Ice God's Heart.
The Ice God's Heart did not want to remain in Xia Yi's spiritual world forever.
So when Xia Yi suggested that it merge with the mecha, after a little thought, the Ice God's Heart agreed.
With the Heavenly Forged Metal as the core component, the fusion of the Ice God's Heart with the mecha was very smooth.
Heavenly Forged Metal and soul fusion—these were standard for red mechas.
That's why Xia Yi dared to call his purple mecha a semi-red mecha.
At first, Gu Yue was against Xia Yi heading towards becoming a red mecha master. Leng Yaozhu had warned her multiple times that red mechas were a path with no end.
Once you became entrenched in it, it would be difficult to get out.
But after the Ice God's Heart merged with Xia Yi's mecha, all her concerns disappeared.
Now, not only could the Ice God's Heart cultivate and improve itself, but it also asked for some of Shrek Academy's mecha manufacturing courses.
That was okay in the past, but now that it had merged into Xia Yi's mecha, it wanted to find a way to improve itself.
It was even more eager than Xia Yi to advance to a red mecha.
She studied diligently.
For her sake, Xia Yi spent a full 10,000 contribution points to buy all the courses taught by the red mecha masters at Shrek Academy.
When Xia Yi built this mecha, he was aiming for the red level.
All its components were designed based on the three-to-one ratio of his body.
If the outer yellow mecha was removed, Xia Yi's true mecha inside was essentially an enlarged version of himself.
At first, when the Ice God's Heart merged with the mecha, it protested for a long time.
It demanded that Xia Yi change the mecha to a feminine style and even drew relevant blueprints for Xia Yi.
But Xia Yi refused without hesitation.
Damn it, even though the Ice God's Heart merged with the mecha, it was still his mecha.
If it were changed to a feminine style, wouldn't he be laughed at if he wore it?
Xia Yi absolutely refused, and warned the Ice God's Heart several times not to change the mecha without his permission.
At first, the Ice God's Heart was dismissive, even controlling the mecha to make a face at Xia Yi.
"From now on, this mecha is my private property. I can control it to fight alongside you, but I won't allow you to ride in it. If you want to ride, use that big yellow one."
These were the Ice God's Heart's exact words. It was incredibly arrogant.
She didn't want Xia Yi to ride in her, so naturally, she didn't care what Xia Yi would feel about it.
This angered Xia Yi so much that he almost dismantled the mecha.
However, Xia Yi eventually forced the Ice God's Heart to compromise.
"If you continue being arrogant, I'll only give you defective metal pieces when upgrading next time."
This was also Xia Yi's exact wording.
Instantly, the Ice God's Heart surrendered.
Now, though the mecha was still made from Divine Metal, it was only the defective version with a fusion rate of less than 99%.
Xia Yi made the Ice God's Heart submit by promising to upgrade it with Divine Metal that had a fusion rate of 99% next time.
Thinking about how his mecha was being dominated by his soul spirit, and how he had to find ways to upgrade it for her, Xia Yi couldn't help but feel a bit wronged.
When Xia Yi named the mecha, he decided on "Xiao Bing."
Xia Yi could tell that the Ice God's Heart didn't like the name, but it never once asked him to change it.
She didn't want to ask Xia Yi for such trivial things.
Xia Yi knew how formidable the Ice God's Heart was, so the night before, he specifically reminded her to be careful and not let anyone notice anything unusual about her.
As for how much power Xiao Bing, the combination of the Ice God's Heart and the mecha, could unleash, Xia Yi wasn't sure.
He had once suggested sparring with her, but she immediately refused.
The Ice God's Heart's reasoning was that, as Xia Yi's soul spirit, controlling a purple mecha would be a constraint for her, whether it was the master or the mecha itself.
Xia Yi and the mecha were too weak, which greatly limited her power.
Even now, when she fused with Xiao Bing, she had to be cautious.
If she leaked even a little bit of her power, it could destroy Xiao Bing's structure.
At most, she could only use it for flying as a means of transportation. If she wanted to control Xiao Bing and fight alongside Xia Yi, it would need to be upgraded to black level.
Of course, Xia Yi could directly control Xiao Bing to fight enemies.
(The end of this chapter)