Bonus Chapter. Enjoy!
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Looking at the meaningful smile on Leng Yaozhu's face, Huo Yuhao sighed inwardly. He knew that if he let Aunt Leng keep control of the conversation, there was no telling what more overwhelming things she might say next.
He immediately turned his head and looked at Princess Xu Jiujiu openly. "Then I can't keep calling you 'Princess Jiujiu' either. You won't mind if I call you Big Sister Jiujiu, right?"
Setting aside Aunt Leng's harmless mischief, Huo Yuhao was actually very clear in his heart that closing the distance between himself and Princess Xu Jiujiu would only benefit the upcoming cooperation between the Spirit Pagoda and the Star Luo Imperial Family.
So, he took the opportunity to naturally use the slightly intimate address of "Big Sister Jiujiu."
Hearing this, Princess Xu Jiujiu's bright eyes instantly lit up a bit more. She was now more than eager to get closer to Huo Yuhao. Setting aside Huo Yuhao's own talent, the weight of his two known teachers alone was enough for the entire Star Luo Imperial Family to treat him with the utmost sincerity.
The corners of her lips curled up as she replied with a beaming smile, "Of course I don't mind! I couldn't be happier."
Worried that Leng Yaozhu might say something "excessive" next, Huo Yuhao decisively seized the conversation and steered it toward official business.
"Big Sister Jiujiu, I will be staying in Star Luo City for a while. I'd like to ask you to help me recruit a group of Soul Engineers."
The Spirit Pagoda was still in its early stages and its Foundation was not yet stable; many things still relied on the support of the Star Luo Empire.
But Huo Yuhao already had a complete set of plans in his heart. Who said the Spirit Pagoda could only deal in Spirit Souls in the future?
If he didn't make use of those advanced Spirit Tool technologies that were a full Ten Thousand Years ahead, it would be a true waste of God's gifts.
Therefore, he wanted to take advantage of the phase while the Spirit Pagoda was still under construction to start laying out the batch production of Spirit Tools.
Once the Spirit Pagoda was officially completed, they would possess not only unique Spirit Soul technology but also Spirit Tools sufficient to drive the entire continent into a frenzy.
As for whether the people sent by the Star Luo Imperial Family would leak the core technology he possessed, Huo Yuhao wasn't worried.
Firstly, he had already demonstrated his powerful backing today. Even if the Star Luo Imperial Family had any small schemes, they would have to weigh the consequences first.
Secondly, even if some ordinary technologies were leaked, it wouldn't matter much.
His mind was filled with the crystallization of Spirit Tool technology from Ten Thousand Years in the future. It was an inexhaustible gold mine; if others learned a bit of the surface level, it wouldn't hurt his core at all.
The truly core technologies would only be taught to those trusted confidants who had passed his tests.
After hearing Huo Yuhao's request, Princess Xu Jiujiu's eyes immediately brightened. She had been looking forward to Huo Yuhao's Spirit Tools for a long time. Now, hearing Huo Yuhao's tone, he clearly didn't intend to play around on a small scale, but was going to go all out.
Suppressing the excitement in her heart, she followed up with a question: "Are there any specific requirements?"
Huo Yuhao thought for a moment and said, "Try to choose younger ones; Class 3 or above Soul Engineers will do."
Princess Xu Jiujiu immediately nodded and agreed decisively: "No problem. I'll have someone handle it first thing tomorrow morning. I guarantee all personnel will be in place within two days."
...
The Star Luo Empire had been in a long-term confrontation with the Sun Moon Empire, and the Spirit Tool artillery fire on the border had never truly ceased. They knew better than anyone the terrifying power of Spirit Tools on the battlefield.
Precisely because they had suffered at the hands of Spirit Tools, the Star Luo Empire had always been sparing no effort to develop its own Spirit Tool technology in an attempt to narrow the gap with the Sun Moon Empire.
Unfortunately, the Sun Moon Empire's blockade of core Spirit Tool technology was extremely strict. This caused the development of Spirit Tool technology in the three original Douluo nations to struggle, and high-level talents were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. To this day, they hadn't even been able to train a single Class 9 Soul Engineer.
However, although high-level Soul Engineers were scarce, Class 3 Soul Engineers were not lacking in the Star Luo Empire.
After all, there were several Soul Engineer academies within the Empire's borders that could produce a large number of Students who had mastered basic Spirit Tool manufacturing techniques every year.
While these people couldn't make any high-end products, their basic knowledge was solid, and they were young, which was exactly the manpower Huo Yuhao needed most at this stage.
Princess Xu Jiujiu was as good as her word, and her efficiency was astonishingly fast. In just two days, she had scouted nearly fifty Soul Engineers of Class 3 or above for Huo Yuhao.
Combined with the twenty Students Huo Yuhao had previously recruited from Shrek Academy, his team of Soul Engineers suddenly expanded to nearly seventy people.
Later, Princess Xu Jiujiu personally stepped in and designated an area in the southeast corner of Star Luo City that originally belonged to the Royal Military Workshop. She allocated the largest three-story building, along with the warehouse and courtyard behind it, to Huo Yuhao.
In just a few days, a small but fully equipped Spirit Tool Laboratory was set up.
So, during this period, Huo Yuhao was truly busy to the point of his feet not touching the ground. He spent almost all day in the laboratory, guiding those seventy Soul Engineers to familiarize themselves with the new Spirit Tool blueprints he had brought from Ten Thousand Years in the future, personally adjusting the process flows, and answering their confusion about the new technology one by one.
The things he said to Wang Donger when they parted before really weren't just to coax her. After being busy in Star Luo City for twelve days like this, Huo Yuhao finally waited for the chance to undergo Transmigration again.
One moment he was standing in that brightly lit Spirit Tool Laboratory in Star Luo City, and the next moment, everything around him changed without any warning. A gray sky, a desolate and dead land—he had once again appeared within the Undead Plane.
Huo Yuhao had experienced such abrupt switches no less than a hundred times and had long since become completely accustomed to it from his initial shock.
He turned his head to look at Leng Yaozhu beside him. Although she had been in the Undead Plane, at that moment just now, she had also been precisely "pulled" back to her state before the two of them transmigrated by that irresistible force. Even the position she was standing in was exactly the same as before.
A strange light flickered in Leng Yaozhu's eyes. With her cultivation as a Limit Douluo and her steady Heart-Nature, she couldn't help but reveal a few hints of amazement at this moment.
She looked down at her hands, then looked around and shook her head. "This feeling is truly miraculous. Even with my cultivation, I didn't have the slightest awareness beforehand, let alone the ability to resist it."
Huo Yuhao felt the same way. He pointed to the light gate ahead and said, "Aunt Leng, let's go out first before we talk."
Leng Yaozhu nodded, and the two spoke no more, stepping toward that light gate together. Following that was the familiar sense of weightlessness, like falling from a great height.
After a brief darkness, the surroundings became bright again.
Walls primarily in white, a simple yet elegant decor, and spirit lamps embedded in the ceiling emitted a bright yet soft light. Through the window, one could see the lights of ten thousand homes in Shrek City burning quietly in the night.
This was Leng Yaozhu's room. After fifteen days, the two had finally returned to this World of Ten Thousand Years later.
Leng Yaozhu stood in the center of the room, looking around at everything familiar. After a moment of silence, she let out a heartfelt sigh.
"What a powerful ability. I'm afraid only a true god could possess such authority."
Hearing this, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but fall into thought. His teacher Electrolux had once told him that his ability to travel through time and space originated from the depths of his Spiritual Sea.
But now his mental force had already stepped onto the threshold of the Spirit Domain Realm, yet he still hadn't managed to detect any abnormalities in his own Spiritual Sea.
It seemed that to unravel this mystery about himself, his mental force would need to go up another level. He just wondered if he would be able to discover anything when his mental force stepped into the Divine Origin Realm.
Huo Yuhao was lost in thought when Leng Yaozhu's voice pulled him back.
Looking at the boy's rare dazed expression, she couldn't help but smile. "Alright, go and rest first. Get a good night's sleep. I also need to adjust myself properly."
After staying in a place like the Undead Plane where day and night were indistinguishable for so long, although her body wasn't tired, she felt like something wasn't quite right and needed to re-adapt to the circadian rhythm outside.
Huo Yuhao snapped out of it and nodded.
He said goodnight to Leng Yaozhu, turned, pushed open the door, and walked out.
The corridor was silent. He took a deep breath of the familiar air of this World and walked toward his own quarters.
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A/N:
5 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter
2 Reviews = 1 Extra Chapter
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.