The Snow Empress sighed. 'Innate talent, is it? Indeed, as perhaps the only Ice Snow Maiden in the world, it's no exaggeration to call me the darling of ice and snow.'
"So you're saying that only after fusing with me will Yuhao be able to use my soul skills?"
Hearing her question, the Ice Empress simply nodded in agreement. Beside them, Huo Yuhao shook his head rapidly.
"Snow Empress, if you're not ready to fuse with me yet, we can keep things as they are. There's no rush to deal with soul skills. We can talk about that later."
The Snow Empress smiled helplessly.
"Becoming your soul ring really isn't a big deal, Yuhao. As long as I can keep my consciousness, it's fine. Just like Bing'er. But it's true that for now, keeping my original strength and staying by your side to protect you is probably the better option."
Huo Yuhao nodded in silence. He also wanted to keep the Snow Empress at her full power instead of absorbing her soul ring and soul bone too early. Then he suddenly remembered the concept of soul spirits from the original timeline.
'If I absorb the Snow Empress like I did with a soul spirit in the previous life, it won't work either. She would still lose her strength.'
While he was feeling troubled and the atmosphere grew heavy, Electrolux's voice rang out from deep within his spiritual sea.
"I have a solution."
Everyone's eyes lit up at once. This mysterious and supremely powerful Death God Saint Mage—what kind of surprise could he have for them?
Huo Yuhao thought the same. In the previous life, the soul spirit system had never been perfected because Electrolux had passed away before he could finish researching the contract magic. But this time was different. With the life energy of Yuhao's Life Gold nourishing him, Electrolux's strength had recovered quickly. Even the Eternal Tower of Undeath was nearly repaired. Researching contract magic for the soul spirit system was now an easy task.
"From what I see, for your world's so-called soul masters, obtaining soul rings might not be limited to killing soul beasts and absorbing their rings."
At that, the Skydream Iceworm, who had been idling in the background, suddenly perked up and couldn't help interjecting.
"Oh, right! You mean those... soul spirits, right? Yuhao told me about them, Elder Yi."
Electrolux glanced in surprise at the giant worm who had interrupted him, then chuckled.
"Heh heh, soul spirits, is it? Very interesting. Yuhao, you explain."
Huo Yuhao noticed that the Snow Empress and Ice Empress were both giving him curious looks, unfamiliar with the term. He could only sigh and start explaining.
"In my past life, Snow Empress, when I met you, you had just escaped from the Divine Seal Altar and intended to self-destruct to take revenge on humanity. Fortunately, a trace of your power found its way into my body at the critical moment and became a Snow Pellet, which joined our God Ascension Plan to recover. But one time while I was cultivating on an ice bed, I accidentally triggered the pellet, and it went out of control. Elder Yi had to burn fragments of his divine consciousness to save me. Under his help, you became my soul spirit.
"A soul spirit is formed by extracting a soul beast's spirit in a special way and signing an equal contract with a soul master. It turns into a soul ring at each bottleneck of ten levels, enabling the soul master to break through while keeping the beast's consciousness intact so they can continue helping in battle. It's another form of existence for soul beasts. This was the most precious legacy Elder Yi left me in my previous life, and it's how I created the soul spirit system on the Douluo Continent."
Huo Yuhao explained in great detail. The Ice Empress and Snow Empress were both deep in thought, realizing just how revolutionary soul spirits could be. It could solve the conflict between soul beasts and soul masters and even the shortage of soul beasts for cultivation.
Electrolux was equally surprised. Yuhao's description of soul spirits overlapped significantly with his own ideas about soul ring allocation. He couldn't help but feel curious about Yuhao's mysterious past life.
But Electrolux wasn't interested in the past right now. He slowly spoke.
"Yuhao is right. The core of the soul spirit lies in a kind of soul contract magic that I've mastered. However, if we follow the previous method and let the little Snow Maiden fuse with him as a soul spirit, she will still lose her original power. After all, the so-called equal contract from Yuhao's past life wasn't truly equal. Most of the soul beast's power was transferred into the soul ring for the soul master."
Yuhao nodded. He had always thought the same. The relationship between soul beasts and soul masters wasn't equal. A soul beast that could've lived for ages had no reason to bind themselves to a short-lived human. So in the end, soul spirits only addressed symptoms, not the root issue. The relationship remained unresolved.
Then a thought struck him. 'Could Electrolux have a more complete solution?'
As expected, Electrolux smiled.
"But based on what Yuhao said, I didn't get the chance to perfect the soul spirit system in the past. This time, it's different. I'm confident I can let the little Snow Maiden keep her strength while also granting soul rings to Yuhao."
"How... would that be possible, Elder Yi?" the Snow Empress asked. Soul rings carried the power of the soul beast. Once transferred, how could the beast retain its power?
"Soul rings are merely vessels for power in your world. If a true equal contract is signed between soul beast and soul master, they can share the power within the ring. That would solve both your and Yuhao's problems. The contract magic is simple for me. So, shall we do it now?"
Everyone was stunned. It wasn't surprising that Electrolux had a solution, but the fact that he could apply it immediately was shocking.
Yuhao swallowed hard and nodded.
"Snow Empress, I'm fine with it. How about you?"
The Snow Empress gave a wry smile.
"Elder Yi, your level truly exceeds anything we can imagine. This contract magic must not belong to our world's power system. Since that's the case, why not? I only worry about Yuhao's safety."
To be honest, the Snow Empress was a true seventy-thousand-year-old beast. Not some inflated hundred-thousand-year soul beast like the Skydream Iceworm. The strength of her soul ring wasn't something Yuhao could handle right now.
"No need to worry. Since the power is shared, your body will remain intact. Yuhao can handle it. This contract will make you a soul companion, similar to a soul spirit. The power you share with him can be withdrawn at any time. Yuhao, do you have any objections?"
Yuhao shook his head. With their relationship, there was nothing to worry about. But this contract magic, though seemingly equal, clearly wasn't something that could be applied broadly. No soul master would accept a soul beast having the right to withdraw their power. Perhaps a less equal form of soul spirit would be more acceptable to them.
At that moment, a humanoid projection of Electrolux appeared before him.
"Then let's begin. I'll come out for a bit."
The contract was simpler than Yuhao had imagined. Electrolux drew a few magical arrays and chanted briefly. A powerful force surged into Yuhao's body—and that was it.
"Alright, it's done. You and the little Snow Maiden take your time adjusting. I'll be heading back to work on my Eternal Tower."
Electrolux's projection disappeared.
Yuhao and the Snow Empress looked at each other. 'That's it?'
Yuhao summoned his second martial soul, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion. What appeared were a 400,000-year soul ring and two orange-gold rings.
"Huh? Why do these look like the high-level soul spirit rings?"
The Snow Empress was puzzled too. She had simply imbued Yuhao with the soul skills Emperor's Cold Sky and Emperor's Palm—why had her red ring become orange-gold?
"Don't be surprised. Transferring power through my world's magic system seems to alter the ring's appearance," Electrolux explained.
Yuhao nodded. That made sense. He looked at the Snow Empress.
She nodded as well.
"This power is shared between us. My strength hasn't diminished. But for now, we can't use the soul skills I gave you simultaneously. And we each pay our own soul power cost. Try them out, Yuhao."
Yuhao understood and was eager to test out the Snow Empress's powerful soul skills. Having already studied her Three Supreme Techniques and now imbued with the Ice Snow Maiden's power, he had no trouble unleashing Emperor's Cold Sky and Emperor's Palm. Even the fusion domain, Snow Dance Extreme Ice Field, was released effortlessly.
The Snow Empress sighed. 'So no one will inherit my soul skills in the end? Such racial talent... Would this world ever birth another Ice Snow Maiden favored by the laws of ice and snow? Probably not.'
"Snow Empress, how many soul rings can you grant me for now?"
She thought for a moment.
"Technically unlimited. But you'll only need a maximum of eight. For power efficiency, five is best."
'Five? That's one more than in the original timeline. Interesting.'
Yuhao didn't ask what the remaining two skills would be, aside from the Three Supreme Techniques. He preferred to keep it a surprise. The fourth would likely be that powerful fusion skill between her and the Ice Empress.
With her role as his soul skill teacher no longer needed, the Snow Empress returned to his spiritual sea, feeling a bit down.
As she left, a new thought occurred to Yuhao. 'If she can give me power, could I return the favor through the contract?'
The answer was yes.
A few days later, the time came for Yuhao to take command of his first military unit. He was quite looking forward to it.
During these days, Electrolux had taken some time to polish the soul spirit system for broader use. The new system wasn't too different from the original, except one key feature: after the soul master's death, the soul spirit's soul could return to its preserved beast body and continue living.
This meant that when a soul beast became a soul spirit, part of its strength and soul would coexist with the soul master, while its body entered a dormant state, maintaining basic life functions.
This greatly increased soul beasts' acceptance of the system. Even though soul beasts were becoming less influential due to the rise of soul tool technology, this development would significantly ease tensions between them and soul masters.
"Commander Xu, greetings."
In Mingde Hall, Yuhao respectfully addressed the sharply dressed, stern-faced elder before him.
Xu Tianyuan looked at the young genius who had developed so many new military-grade soul tools and smiled.
"You must be Huo Yuhao. I've been wanting to thank you properly for your revolutionary contributions to the military."
Yuhao shook his head.
"It's nothing. It was my duty."
"Don't be so modest. And what about those soul tools? My Royal Dragon Soul Engineer Regiment and the regular army you're taking over are both stationed in the mountains outside Mingdu. Transporting everything there covertly won't be easy."
"The equipment's ready, and I've got a solution for transport. Commander Xu, please follow me to the surface."
Yuhao led Xu Tianyuan up to the academy's field. The wide open space was now packed with massive trucks.
Xu Tianyuan was stunned.
"What are these?"
"These are trucks, Commander Xu. They're powered by sealed milk bottles. They can carry huge loads of heavy weapons and are great off-road. Pretty good, right?"
Xu Tianyuan admired them. These would revolutionize battlefield logistics.
With the invention of sealed milk bottles, it felt like many old systems were becoming obsolete. He could feel the overwhelming tide of a new era.
Yuhao brought him to one truck and invited him in. Xu Tianyuan gladly accepted. He was eager to try this contraption that looked far cooler than any horse carriage.
Inside the cab, just like Earth's, were two seats. Yuhao took the driver's seat, and Xu sat beside him.
"Say, little Huo, we're driving these out through the city, right?"
Yuhao nodded. "Yes. We already notified the crown prince to ask the emperor for permission. A major road through Mingdu has been cleared under military authority."
As he spoke, he used a transmission soul tool to notify the other drivers to get ready. Each truck had its own number. Naturally, Yuhao's truck was number one.
Driving a soul-powered truck was similar to a car on Earth. For safety, the speed and performance were modest. Yuhao expertly started the engine, shifted gears, and gently drove forward.
Xu Tianyuan's eyes lit up as he felt the truck accelerate. 'What a machine!' He'd thought his old age meant his days of excitement were over. But this truck had reignited a spark in him.
Noticing his enthusiasm, Yuhao smiled.
"Commander Xu, we'll be developing many more vehicles like this. I can even customize a cool soul-powered motorcycle just for you. We'll be colleagues in the military now, so I'll be counting on your support."
Xu Tianyuan laughed.
"You rascal. Still so young and already so good with people. But I like it."
Soon, all ninety-nine trucks rolled into the streets of Mingdu, engines rumbling with soul-powered might. Curious citizens crowded the roadsides.
Some trembled at the sight of these metal giants. Others cheered at how cool they looked. They didn't understand what they were—but they knew their country must be powerful to create them.
Xu Tianyuan frowned slightly.
"Little Huo, is this alright? These weapons are supposed to be a secret."
Yuhao sneered.
"Doesn't matter. No one knows what's inside. Let those with agendas tremble in fear."
Sure enough, everyone from imperial schemers to spies from the Three Kingdoms took note of this terrifying convoy.
As Yuhao had said, they didn't know what this iron army was planning. So they could only guess, fear, and hesitate.
In the imperial palace, Xu Tiannan stood atop the palace tower, gripping his wheelchair tightly as he watched the distant convoy.
"Father, it's a shame you're too ill to witness this glory—the future of our Sun Moon Empire."
He whispered to himself. Beside him stood a beautiful woman—Juzi.
She watched the convoy curiously. 'Is this the work of Mingde Hall?' Lately, they'd been churning out high-level soul tool tech at an alarming rate. Even Xuan Ziwen said they no longer needed to test the all-terrain cannon platform.
(End of Chapter)
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