After being challenged by Xia Yi and his group, the Tang Sect spent the entire night gathering intelligence on Xia Yi and his companions.
However, since the beginning of the school term, Xia Yi's group hadn't made a move.
This was because, except for Wu Jin, both Xia Yi and Gu Yue had not reached the fourth ring.
Therefore, the Tang Sect was most eager to find out what Wu Jin's fourth soul skill was.
In order to enhance the strength of their disciples, the Tang Sect even worked overnight to create battle armor for them.
Below the rank of Soul King, while they couldn't wear a full set of battle armor, it wasn't a problem for them to wear a few accessories.
While the high-ranking members of the Tang Sect were grinding their teeth in frustration, the disciples of the Tang Sect eagerly competed for the chance to represent the sect in battle against Xia Yi's group.
The Tang Sect's leadership had already declared that any disciple who could defeat any member of Xia Yi's group would receive a set of battle armor made from spirit alloy.
Battle armor made from spirit alloy!
This immediately drove the disciples of the Tang Sect wild.
Those who had just broken through to Soul King complained about why Xia Yi's group hadn't come to challenge them sooner.
Even in the Tang Sect and places like Shrek Academy, spirit alloys were not affordable for everyone.
Basically, all battle armor was made from refined metals, which were of lesser quality than spirit alloy.
Refined metals couldn't be integrated into the body, so wearing battle armor made from refined metals was cumbersome.
The power of armor made from spirit alloy was also far superior.
Another thing was that spirit alloy could be reforged.
As long as they had battle armor made from spirit alloy, upgrading it in the future would only require re-forging.
With all these factors combined, the moment the Tang Sect's leadership made this announcement, the Tang Sect disciples below the Soul King rank began to spar with one another.
Some Tang Sect disciples from Shrek City, feeling they had no chance in Shrek City, left overnight to compete for the chance to battle Xia Yi's group at the Tang Sect branches in smaller cities.
Other Tang Sect branches from other cities also sent some extremely powerful Soul Ancestors to the cities along the route from Shrek Academy to Mingdu, hoping to defeat Xia Yi's group and claim the reward of spirit alloy battle armor.
From Shrek Academy to Mingdu, there were ten cities, and each city's Tang Sect branch had to send three participants.
A total of thirty participants.
For the Tang Sect, with its tens of thousands of disciples, this was a classic case of "many monks, little rice."
Seeing the disciples of the Tang Sect so eager for battle, the leadership was very pleased.
While the Tang Sect was busy preparing to confront Xia Yi's group, after school that day, Xia Yi and his companions had quietly left Shrek Academy.
Xia Yi left all of his valuables at the exclusive manor in the Star Dou Forest.
He even left behind the Genesis Hammer and the Yin-Yang Wine Jug.
This time, for the final exams, Xia Yi didn't want to use any tricks.
Recently, he had been feeling uneasy, as if someone was plotting against him.
Therefore, Xia Yi didn't want to cause any trouble.
If something went wrong, he might not even have a place to cry.
Challenging the Tang Sect was just to ensure everything was in his control and to reduce risks.
Although challenging the Tang Sect was risky, it was less likely to result in unexpected outcomes.
If he didn't challenge the Tang Sect and instead went city by city causing trouble, the chances of unexpected developments were higher, and accidents might happen more easily.
For the sake of "caution," Xia Yi decided to publicly challenge the Tang Sect, a powerful sect with a twenty-thousand-year legacy.
If the Tang Sect knew that Xia Yi challenged them to avoid causing trouble, they would likely be so enraged that they'd die of anger.
After leaving his belongings, Xia Yi began cultivating.
After all, the Tang Sect was a grand organization with a history of two thousand years, and his challenge was aimed at those below Soul King rank. It would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous.
Xia Yi actually didn't care about winning or losing. For him, it didn't matter if he lost or won, as long as the challenge put some pressure on him and helped him improve.
As for the rest, as long as he earned enough points and wasn't eliminated, he was fine with it.
Losing a few rounds wouldn't have any impact.
But since this was for his improvement, he would give it his all.
Xia Yi was cultivating, and so was Wu Jin.
Meanwhile, Gu Yue and the fierce beasts gathered together to study the ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts.
The ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts were the basis of the collaboration between Star Dou Forest and the Spirit Pagoda.
The Spirit Pagoda had been researching soul beasts for a thousand years, but the technology to create artificial ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts had always been a difficult problem.
Until Gu Yue appeared. After her family and the Spirit Pagoda began collaborating, they managed to overcome many challenges related to artificial ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts.
This gave the Spirit Pagoda hope for creating artificial ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts.
With the insistence of the "family" behind Gu Yue, that is, Star Dou Forest, the technology for creating artificial ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts was now fully under the control of Star Dou Forest, and the Spirit Pagoda had no right to intervene.
Now, Star Dou Forest only needed to report their progress and request funding from the Spirit Pagoda at regular intervals.
The Spirit Pagoda wanted to create artificial ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts through the family behind Gu Yue, while Gu Yue herself wanted to use the soul beasts she created to control the Spirit Ascension Platform and absorb soul beasts' soul masters.
In fact, Star Dou Forest had already mastered the technology for artificial ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts, but they had not yet figured out how to make the soul beasts control the soul masters.
This was why Gu Yue had not handed over this technology to the Spirit Pagoda yet.
Xia Yi wasn't involved in this matter. He had no knowledge of soul beasts, let alone how to control soul masters using them.
He had wanted to learn before, but Gu Yue wouldn't allow it.
She even issued a stern order to Di Tian and the others: anyone who dared to teach Xia Yi about soul beasts would be in trouble.
Xia Yi already had enough things to learn, and Gu Yue was worried that if he learned about soul beasts, he would end up with scattered knowledge, unable to master any one subject.
Gu Yue and the fierce beasts continued their research until late at night, but they still had no breakthroughs and could only return to their rooms to rest.
After Gu Yue finished her bath and returned to her room, she turned on the light and saw Zi Ji sitting on the bed in her nightgown.
"Zi Ji, what are you doing here?" Gu Yue frowned and asked. "Is there something you can't say in front of Di Tian and the others?"
"I just missed the Master too much, and I wanted to rest with you. I didn't know if that would be okay." Zi Ji grinned, not giving Gu Yue a chance to refuse. With a flash of purple light, she appeared behind Gu Yue.
With another flash, she was hugging Gu Yue and lying down on the bed, even pulling up the covers.
"What are you doing? Let go." Gu Yue scolded loudly, feeling uncomfortable being held like this.
"Master, right now I'm still calling you 'Master,' but tonight I'm here as your friend, so your orders have no effect on me." Zi Ji chuckled, completely unbothered by Gu Yue's scolding.
"Didn't I tell you to protect Xia Yi? You've learned nothing useful, only how to disobey your superiors." Gu Yue gritted her teeth and asked.
If this were before, Zi Ji's "disrespectful" behavior would have angered her greatly.
But after being influenced by Xia Yi, Gu Yue surprisingly found that she wasn't angry at all.
In fact, she started to enjoy this feeling.
"If you have something to say, say it. If you have something to let out, let it out, and then leave." Gu Yue coldly said. Even if she wasn't angry, she wasn't going to give Zi Ji a good expression at this moment.
"I just want to talk about Xia Yi. Master, if you keep dragging this out, aren't you afraid something might happen?" Zi Ji asked in a serious tone.
"So this is what you really wanted to say?" Gu Yue snorted, a bit of grievance in her voice. "I've done everything I can, what else do you want me to do?"
Gu Yue felt wronged. She even wondered if Xia Yi hadn't fully accepted her yet because her beauty wasn't as good as Na'er's.
But on second thought, Xia Yi didn't seem like such a superficial person.
"Master, this time when you go out, it's an opportunity. If you don't seize it, who knows how much longer this will drag on." Zi Ji said in a low voice.
"What can I do?" Gu Yue was deeply discouraged. If Xia Yi didn't want it, what could she do?
"A few days ago, when Bi Ji and I passed by a pharmacy, we bought some medicine…" Zi Ji said.
"No!" Gu Yue immediately refused. If she used medicine on Xia Yi, wouldn't she be admitting that her charm wasn't enough?
"Alright, since you won't do it, I won't say anything." Zi Ji shook her head and stood up, preparing to leave.
Actually, she also thought this wasn't a good idea.
"Stop!" Seeing Zi Ji about to leave, Gu Yue quickly called her back.
"To prevent you from acting on your own, give me the medicine. When I have time, I'll destroy it." Gu Yue said coldly, but her ears were turning red.
Zi Ji's eyes lit up and she immediately handed Gu Yue a storage soul tool.
"Master, actually, it's not as embarrassing as you think. We are soul beasts, not humans. Don't say that you and Xia Yi are in love. Even in soul beast society, if one soul beast likes another, as long as they have the strength, they can simply take them. If you really feel embarrassed, just think of it this way: you are the Soul Beast Queen, and Xia Yi is just a little fox. It's his great fortune that you look at him. In this matter, as long as you want it, it's fine. He has no right to refuse; he can only accept his fate."
"Don't say any more." Gu Yue glared at Zi Ji, but her heart suddenly became clear.
Zi Ji was right.
She was the Soul Beast Queen. In this matter, she could make the decision herself. Why should she care about Xia Yi's feelings?
"Hehe, it looks like Master has figured it out. In that case, Zi Ji will take her leave." Seeing Gu Yue's expression, Zi Ji smiled and turned to leave.
"Stop!" Gu Yue called her again.
"Master, is there something else?" Zi Ji asked, curious.
"Tonight, it's not safe for you to leave alone. Stay here and rest with me." Gu Yue said, lying back down on the bed.
"Uh!" Zi Ji was stunned.
Not safe? She?
What's going on?
"Forget it!" Although Zi Ji didn't know what Gu Yue was planning, she didn't dare to refuse. She climbed back onto the bed and lay down next to Gu Yue.
Gu Yue snapped her fingers, and the light automatically turned off. In the darkness, both Gu Yue and Zi Ji were silent.
Zi Ji wanted to say something, but she noticed that Gu Yue had opened her mouth several times, only to stop each time.
Each time, Gu Yue seemed to want to say something, but then she hesitated.
Seeing Gu Yue like this, Zi Ji didn't dare to fall asleep, but she didn't know what to say either.
She could only quietly lie beside Gu Yue, waiting for Gu Yue to speak first.
What frustrated Zi Ji was that she had to wait for more than an hour.
"Are you asleep?" Gu Yue finally spoke, her voice barely audible.
"No!"
"I have a question for you."
"Please go ahead, Master."
"How should I proceed?"
"This medicine is colorless and tasteless. Just add it to the food."
"I'm not asking about that, I'm asking about the next steps."
"The next step…" Zi Ji stiffened. How was she supposed to answer this?
(End of Chapter)